Emo-Pop

Today’s Track: Calva Louise – ‘Euphoric’

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

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

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

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

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

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Scuzz Sundays: Skunk Anansie – ‘Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)’

November 28, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: ‘Skin’ Deborah Dyer (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Theremin/Chief Songwriter), ‘Ace’ Martin Kent (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Richard Lewis (Bass Guitar/Unclean Vocals) & Mark Richardson (Drums) (2020) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and, for a final time this year, the time has come for us to revisit some of the Pop-Punk ghosts of the decades past for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, not forgetting that it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This is the last installment of the trashy weekly feature because I have something special planned for December instead – which is still on-theme and on-brand – but I’ve been conspiring with a special guest who may (or may not) have some involvement with these plans. Therefore, we need to round off the latest year of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on a high note and the multi platinum-selling 90’s Brit-Rock group Skunk Anansie are certainly a fit for the grand task. They were particularly significant for their own frontwoman, ‘Skin’ (aka Deborah Anne Dyer OBE), who was crucial to black music history because, sadly for the time, it was highly unusual for an androgynous black woman with a trademark bald look to front a well-known Punk Rock band in the mainstream. However, in 2004, they were ranked as one of the most successful UK chart acts between 1952 and 2003 by the Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles & Albums, having spent a total of 142 weeks on both the UK Singles and UK Albums chart. A single synonymous with Skunk Anansie was ‘Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)’ – a top 20 hit in several countries including the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Iceland. Written about a tough breakup, the music video caused some controversy when shots included two girls kissing. Another sign that Skin and company were ahead of their time. Let’s revisit the similar sights below.

Often grouped as part of the 90’s Brit-Pop boom, Skunk Anansie were more precisely an Alternative Rock and Hard Rock outfit who were popular for numerous other hit singles like ‘Weak’ and ‘Charity’ that made a mark on the charts internationally. Their name of ‘Skunk Anansie’ also derives from the Akan folk tales of ‘Anansi’ who was the spider-woman of Ghana, and the band added the title of ‘Skunk’ at the front to, as they simply noted, “make the name nastier”, flowing with their signature sounds to give them a harsher Punk edge over their contemporary competition. ‘Hedonism’ has become a frequent favourite with their fans at live performances and Skin has often been known to perform the single at solo gigs too. Starting with a somber tone using lyrics like “I hope you’re feeling happy now” and “I wonder what you’re doing now/I wonder if you think of me at all” that establish Skin’s narrative who appears not to be ‘over’ their ex-lover despite their bad behaviour following a split, Skunk Anansie complement her shy and willowy vocals with some muted guitar beats, followed by mid-tempo Drums and a harsher bassline, in a fashion that feels reminiscent of a rock opera ballad. They still resemble a Pop band on the more alternative side, however, as the downtempo mood still resembles that of a more moderate Rock song. The focus, here, is on the vocals. Skin uses emotive lyrics like “Does laughter still discover you?/I see through all those smiles that look so right” that feel open and revealing to her character, which are contrasted by highly distorted guitars in a particularly memorable guitar solo in the middle. The drums and the bass are very tight and consistent, while the dynamics and subtleties are left intact because Skin’s vocals are never compromised by the heavier guitar melodies, which leaves plenty of wide space for the lyrics to come through nicely. Confrontational yet slightly tinged by vulnerability, Skin’s vocal performance is rich and well-recorded. In conclusion, ‘Hedonism’ is a solid single with crossover appeal between slightly different genres that still holds up today. Kept simple and effective, yet complex enough, it is a good testament to the credibility of the 4-piece despite their larger mainstream popularity.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Stoosh’ (LP) (Released on October 7th, 1996) (via One Little Indian/Epic Records)

That brings us to the bottom of the page! Thank you for continuing to support my content every day, and I’ll be back tomorrow to kick off a new week’s worth of posts that includes a fairly strange mixture of Christmas recordings and new alternative favourites, but it’s that bizzare time of the year again. We kick off with new material from a wildly experimental duo who met each other at the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama. They have released a crop of singles and an EP on the forward-thinking Warp Records label, and their new single marks their signing to Rough Trade Records.

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Scuzz Sundays: Papa Roach – ‘…To Be Loved’

November 21, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Paramour Sessions’ (LP) (Released on Sept 12th, 2006) (via Geffen Records)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to remember another of the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past that dwindled after the late-90’s to the mid-00’s into a pile of ash for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! In a similar vein to last week’s entry on Hoobastank, Papa Roach have also been covered for the ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature once before, but it was published over a year ago. ‘Last Resort’ earned a fairly ‘meh’ reception from me, and so it’s time to see if some of their later work can redeem things. Formed in Vacacille, California in 1993 when lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix and drummer Dave Buckner came across each other on the Vacaville High School college football pitch and they bonded over their shared love for music. Known for hits like ‘Last Resort’ and ‘Between Angels and Insects’, as well as Gold-certified albums such as 2002’s ‘Lovehatetragedy’ and the triple platinum-certified LP release ‘Infest’ from two years prior, the Pop-Grunge group are also well-known for composing ‘To Be Loved’, which was originally featured as the theme tune for WWE’s ‘Monday Night Raw’ programme that was used between 2006 and 2009. It was the opening single of 2006’s ‘The Paramour Sessions’, which was titled as a reference to The Paramour Mansion, where the album was recorded. Dedicated to the memory of Shaddix’s step grandfather, who committed suicide that year, following a diagnosis of an unspecified form of terminal cancer, the record is a departure in sound for the band, as it trends into more of a Hard Rock sound instead of Nu-Metal like the group’s previous releases. Let’s revisit the album’s most popular single below.

In it’s late-00’s heyday, ‘To Be Loved’ slowly ascended to the #8 position of the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #14 in the Modern Rock Tracks charts that have been compiled by Billboard in the US, and it has been memorably used during the theatrical trailer for the 2008 film ‘Never Back Down’, which was directed by Jeff Wadlow (‘Kick-Ass 2’, ‘Bloodshot’) and boasted a star studded cast that included the likes of Amber Heard, Sean Faris and Djimon Honsou. Throughout the track, Shaddix promises he’s “Taking it back to the hardcore level” with some big vocal hooks and some jangly lead guitar riffs, marking a slight tease into the band’s older Rap Metal sound with a light Hip-Hop introduction that goes into something more distorted and alike to an uncontrollable frenzy, with a post-bridge that shouts ‘Screamo’ movement in a not-so subtle nature. Lyrics like “I want domination/I want your submission” and “I’ve gotta roll the dice/Never look back and never think twice” are what you would expect considering it was used for a long-running WWE TV product at one point, and the instrumentation fits the chaotic nature of the vocals with tight Drum riffs and upbeat guitar riffs. There’s some light use of snares, but they are paper thin. This feels water-tight on the whole in terms of sequencing, however, with a fast pace that never really lets up and an enthusiastic vocal performance that blends into the aggressive melodies decently enough. Overall, if you were looking for the pinnacle example of what a ‘Scuzz TV’ song was, this is the one. It is cheesy, an obvious crossover track with Pop elements, and a riotously paced single with some cheap lyrics. While I can’t comment on whether I believe it is Papa Roach’s best work, as I haven’t listened to enough of their own discography to get a full picture of that award, I thought this was fine overall. It is what it is. Disposable, but fun and it got the job done reasonably well.

Pictured: Papa Roach performing at the Reading & Leeds Music Festival (2014) (Photo via BBC Music)

If you really want to check out some of Papa Roach’s other more well-known past material, allow my prior post pertaining to Papa Roach to be your ‘Last Resort’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/07/26/scuzz-sundays-papa-roach-last-resort/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Infest’ (LP) (Released on April 25th, 2021) (via DreamWorks/NPG Studios)

That’s all for today! Thank you for joining me for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, and I’ll be back tomorrow with another regular blog post in the long lead up to the ‘Countdown To Christmas’ rush! This time, it will come from a New York-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist who has released three studio albums and a 7″ single. Digital Trends included 2018’s ‘You, Forever’ in their list of their best albums that year.

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Scuzz Sundays: Hoobastank – ‘Out Of Control’

November 14, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Doug Robb (Lead Vocals), Dan Estrin (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Jesse Charland (Keyboard/Bass Guitar) and Chris Hesse (Drums) (2013) (Photo by http://www.hiddenjams.com/)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to delve back into 90’s-00’s Pop-Punk territory for yet another edition of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on One Track At A Time, the music blog where it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you were to name a list of acts with wacky or purely silly names, the likes of Chicano Batman and Bowling For Soup would probably ring the most bells. Somewhere near to the top of the list with them, however, would have to be the Agura Falls native Rock band who are still known as Hoobastank. The band did pretty well for themselves, meanwhile, by scoring a wide range of sync deals in popular culture and selling their way to over ten million units worldwide with crossover chart hits like ‘The Reason’, which we previously covered in the blog upon the dreadful Covid-damaged season of last March, to a pretty negative reception from myself, to be honest. It has been over a year since that time, however, so it’s time to see if we get more positive results this time around. An understandable pick to do so would be ‘Out Of Control’, the lead single from the band’s most well-known album, ‘The Reason’, which was their third full-length studio album release in 2004. It charted at #16 in the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and at #9 on the US Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. The single also features backing vocals by Ian Watkins and Jamie Oliver, two prior members of the controversial Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets. It was also featured in the soundtrack for a few video games, including ‘Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes The Neighbourhood’ as well. Let’s remember the Nathan Cox-directed music video below.

Now a multi-platinum selling group with three Grammy Award nominations under their belt, Hoobastank decided to give ‘The Reason’ a 15th anniversary re-release to celebrate their success in 2019, which was printed on both standard black and limited edition white Vinyl, and it featured four previously unavailable bonus tracks as well as an exclusive acoustic version of the album’s title track. ‘Out Of Control’ was included on the record, and the lyrics follow the narrative of a person who has gone out of control in a downward spiral after blindly following the orders of someone else. Sequences like “Try to focus but everything’s twisted” and “All alone I thought you would be there” are very straight to the point and explicit in their meaning, with lead vocalist Doug Robb musing on distrust and confusion, while lyrics like “Where should I go? What should I do?/I don’t understand what you want from me” are more focused on seeking of purpose and looking for answers to alleviate your pain and suffering. He reminds me of Faith No More’s Mike Patton in terms of his screeching delivery when he breaks down the title of the track in the chorus. Musically, the instrumentation blends a decent variety of heavy styles because the verses are a little familiar to Nu-Metal fans, the chorus goes for more of a rousing pure Pop style, and the bridges touch upon some Post-Grunge effects leading to a pre-chorus which screams Foo Fighters to my ears. Backing harmonies pop up from time to time, and the backbeat feels grittier in mood than the more Rap-Rock delivery of the post-chorus. In terms of my opinion of the track itself, I found the chorus to be relatively catchy and the instrumentation to seem perfectly fine, with a decent lead guitar performance from Dan Estrin elevating the aggressive, strong vocals from Robb to a more memorable degree. The problem, however, is that everything feels pretty in-your-face and there’s no subtlety to make the songwriting feel a little more profound. This is certainly not designed to be high art, but the lyrics feel so direct to the point where there’s nothing vaguely interesting to take away from them at all. That said, the drum beats feel very brash and the Power-Pop chorus are complementing the overall style in a way that feels solid, and so the track holds together reasonably well despite some flaws that I have with the songwriting. Overall, I much preferred ‘Out Of Control’ to ‘The Reason’, which I covered on the blog last year, as it was a fun track to listen to that, despite feeling very of-its-time, has some decent performances from the band members who all play their instruments to the Grunge-inspired formula of the track pretty nicely. I just wish the lyrics weren’t so plain and bland, as it could have been better in that regard, but it is still a fair improvement. We were just about over half of the way there.

  • Pictured: Hoobastank playing at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London (2019) (Photo by Connie Taylor)

If you need an excuse to check out some of Hoobastank’s music, you have ‘The Reason’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/22/scuzz-sundays-hoobastank-the-reason/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Reason’ (LP) (Released on April 26th, 2004) (via Island Records)

Thank you for reading my latest blog post and thank you for your continued support by reading the site each day or discovering the blog for the first time today. I’ll be back tomorrow with music from a Los Angeles-based artist who is releasing her debut LP in February. She has currently signed to 100% Electronica – George Clanton’s label.

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Today’s Track: Cathy Jain – ‘Green Screen’

November 1, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Artificial’ (EP) (Available from November 5, 2021) (via Yala! Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and you’ve arrived at the right time for yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This is a brand new week and a brand new month, so I’ve got some brand new music from a brand new artist to mark the occasion of the theme. Cathy Jain is a 17-year-old singer-songwriter who mostly gravitates towards Bedroom Pop and Alternative R&B in terms of her production. She was raised in China and Australia before moving to the UK when she reached the age of 13, and she now finds herself currently based in Wistaton, Cheshire. A recent Brine Leas student, Jain can speak Chinese fluently and, in her time there, she learned how to play the Guzheng, a traditional Zither-like instrument. Jain found her break when she landed a top five place in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge Talent Search among more than 10,000 entries, and she will be releasing her debut EP – ‘Artificial’ – on November 5th via Yala Records. Her fans include BBC Radio 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne and Steve Lamacq, and BBC Radio 1 hosts Clara Amfo and Jack Saunders, and she’s also gained support from NME, Clash and The Line Of Best Fit. The follow-up to her debut single ‘Cool Kid’ is ‘Green Screen’, which was co-produced and co-mixed by her frequent collaborator Rob Heron at the Cracked Analogue studio. So, let’s give it a listen below.

Cathy Jain’s work has been featured in major playlists across streaming services including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer, and when talking about the major themes of her soon-to-be-released EP, she explained in her press release, “Together, the four tracks take a look at how we define what is really ‘real’ when we spend so much of our time either in our own heads or in a virtual world online”. For ‘Green Screen’, Jain aimed to write a single with a more “epic vibe”, and she gradually weaves together several layers of Soulful instrumentation and vocal harmonies to build the recorded track up to create some accessible Alternative Pop with hints of Lo-Fi ambience and mild Psychedelic Rock. Pulling in some Vaporwave and Chillwave influences for a surprisingly laidback opening, she complains, “I’m bored/It’s late, the stores are closed and I’d explore my phone I have some more”, during the introductory verse. The themes of virtual interaction soon become clearer, with seductive lyrics like “Notes on every sting, making each one sting” and “Things I pretend to have experienced” in later sequences while the electronic textures dabble between blissful Synths and tender, acoustic guitar riffs. Jain refuses to follow the traditional Pop/Rock/Indie single structure of the present day and abandons this pre-conceived idea in favour of switching over to different backdrops to keep things interesting, including a more glitched combination of Keys and Synths aided by some more ballad-like and sing-song vocals in the later part of the single. A few hooks like “Sometimes we just wanna be/Some melodramatic teens in the feels” and “Kissing the green screen/Making me feel things” seem to reoccur now and again, but she places a larger emphasis on sweetly drawled verses and changes of tone plus timbre rather than relying on a typically catchy chorus. The music of the overall package has a back-and-forth pace to it and the harmonies feel a little playful at times, with the attitudes of self-awareness and reflection mixing neatly with the more Dream Pop-inspired backing beats that complement her explorations of exploring a virtual self shared with her colleagues and friends. Overall, ‘Green Screen’ is an intriguing and alternative Lo-Fi Pop single that may take some less acquired listeners a few listens to wrap their heads around, but I really enjoyed how it subverted my expectations of a teen, emo dream Pop song and she does things differently to her peers. The chilled synths reminded me of Still Woozy, the long-winded romantic croons made me think about La Roux, and her youthful take on the Alternative Soul game feels fresh while appealing for fans of Lorde. One that I’d like to experience outside of my own screens.

  • Pictured: Cathy Jain in an official publicity shot for her ‘Artificial’ EP (2021) (Photo courtesy of artist)

That’s all for now! Thank you very much for your continued support regarding the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at some more brand new material, this time coming from another gifted female solo singer songwriter from Wales who has pulled in an appearance on the site before, although it was covered in the early stages of 2019 and so I would forgive you if you’ve forgotten all about it. The Carmarthenshire-born artist, who sings in English and Welsh, will issue a new album via Mexican Summer in early 2022. She’s toured with St. Vincent and Perfume Genius.

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Scuzz Sundays: The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – “False Pretense”

October 17, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Ronnie Winter (Lead Vocals/Acoustic Guitar), Joey Westwood (Bass Guitar), Josh Burke (Lead Guitar), Daniel Reshnick (Synths) and John Espy (Drums) (Date n/a) (Photo via HMMagazine.com)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and you’ve visited the site in time for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, our weekly look back at the Pop-Punk relics that were all released between the late-1990’s and the mid-2000’s to see how they live up to their potential in the present day, because its always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘False Pretense’ marks the debuting appearance on the blog from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, a mid-00’s Post-Hardcore 6-piece who joined the wave of ‘Emo’ Pop/Rock bands including Fall Out Boy and The All-American Rejects from the later stages of my early childhood Grunge phase, and they simply got their bizzare name from voting for random words that each member stuck onto a wall between themselves. They were competent enough, however, and the band have since gone on to release five full-length studio albums together since meeting in an AP Music Theory class in 2001. Their 2006 debut, ‘Don’t You Fake It’, is probably their best known since it was eventually certified as Platinum by the RIAA in 2006 for exceeding over 500,000 copies in sales. They were supporting bands like 30 Seconds To Mars, Amber Pacific and A Static Lullaby in their time, and they have impressively continued to stick around since their appearances at multiple festivals like Soundwave Festival and going on acoustic tours to keep them sounding fresh with new twists. They last released the ‘Emergency’ EP containing two previously unreleased singles. ‘False Pretense’ was used in the 2008 action movie ‘Never Back Down’ – directed by Jeff Wadlow and starring Amber Heard. Let’s remember it below.

Despite garnering mixed reviews from critics, ‘Don’t You Fake It’ reached the #25 spot on the Billboard 200 in the US, and it also spawned two other successful singles: ‘Your Guardian Angel’ and ‘Face Down’, and the band promoted the release with a set at the Bamboozle Festival in 2018. The band also released a remastered edition of the LP in 2014 which includes ‘Disconnected’ and ‘The Grimm Goodbye’, two rare cuts found only on the Deluxe edition of the original release. If you’ve ever been fond of bands like The All American Rejects or OPM, ‘False Pretense’ will find you in the mosh pit of similar territory, with some frivolous Pop-Punk guitar riffs and some Rapcore explorations. There’s also an energetic Baroque influence that harkens back to very early Panic! At The Disco material, and so their sound really feels like a mish-mash of their other contemporary acts in some respects. The lyrics are very straightforward too, with lyrics like “The world’s got a funny way of turning round on you/When a friend tries to stab you right in the face” and “You tried but you were caught red handed/Are you happy with your role?” dealing with spite and betrayal in a very easily consumable way, while vocalist Ronnie Winter chants hooks like “False pretense, you’ll hurt again” and “Don’t sweat it/Set a false pretense” in the chorus to hammer his point home about a close friend turning their back on him. While the band don’t have a great amount of originality or innovation to them, it is a broadly well-meaning and acceptable crossover between Pop, Rap and Punk elements, with different parts of other bands – like the more Grunge-oriented chorus that nods towards Linkin Park – thrown in the cauldron together for good measure. The lyrics are a little bland, but there’s nothing inherently poor about them since they suit the end to meet the needs decently enough and don’t head towards any tangents, so the record feels tight and coherent. It never does much to surprise you in terms of instrumentation, but, once again, the Pop-Punk guitar riffs are riotous and have enough of a harsh edge to craft an instantly recognizable blueprint. The drums are competent too, but they also lack memorability. Overall, it feels pretty uninspired and it doesn’t stand out a great deal, however, what we do get here is solid enough to make a little splash. An unoriginal effort that fails to establish a USP, but it is inoffensive and made with efficient ability.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Don’t You Fake It’ (LP) (Released on July 18th, 2006) (via Virgin Records)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another roughly 24 hour period of the weekend! Thank you for your support with the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to kick off the new week with some recent-ish material from a surprisingly big name for a Monday! It comes from an eclectic gang of animated animals who were founded by Blur’s frontman in the early 2000’s and they have been cited as the “Most Successful Virtual Band” in the world by the Guiness Book Of World Records in 2010. They have sold over 25 million records globally – and won ‘Best British Group’ at the 2018 BRIT’s.

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Scuzz Sundays: Avril Lavigne – “When You’re Gone”

September 26, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Best Damn Thing’ (LP) (Released on April 11th, 2007) (via RCA Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up on the blog for yet another one of my daily posts, seeing that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Scuzz Sundays’ marks the end point of the week where we take an in-depth look back at some Pop-Punk anthems released between the late-90’s and the mid-00’s, and the Canadian vocalist Avril Lavigne was one of the most famous female role models of the era. Best known for the multi-platinum selling singles ‘Sk8erboi’ and ‘Girlfriend’ and her nickname of ‘Pop Punk Queen’ from the music publications of the time, Lavigne still holds the title of having the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian singer with her 2002 debut release, ‘Let Go’. She’s also dabbled in acting work, as she did voice work for 2006’s ‘Over The Hedge’ and she appeared in the comedy-drama film ‘Fast Food Nation’ that also opened in cinemas in 2006. ‘When You’re Gone’ was released as the second single from her third full-length album, ‘The Best Damn Thing’, which hit the shelves of Woolworths in 2007. This LP incorporated more elements of Post-Grunge into her recordings than before, and it has sold more than six million copies globally, topping some of the US Billboard charts along with reaching the top of the charts in twelve countries. ‘When You’re Gone’, as a single, peaked at #24 on the US Billboard 200 and it reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart. Refresh your mind below.

Lavigne wrote ‘When You’re Gone’ with Butch Walker (Panic! At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional) who also produced the track, and the subject matter was reportedly written about her marriage to Sum 41’s lead singer Deryck Whibley at the time and how she feels when the two of them are touring separately, but she has been quick to dispute this rumor during interviews with The Belfast Telegraph at the time. She also worked with the composer Rob Mathes to orchestrate the single. You may have noticed the genuine String section in the brief early goings, for example, when you just listened to the track via the video. She also incorporates a fluttering Piano line and a gentle Synthesizer to the mix too. The lyrics are simple, with universal themes like separation from a love interest and expressing how you feel when you’re apart from a special someone in your life, shining through brief sequences like “I always needed time on my own/I never thought I’d need you there when I cried” and “And the days feel like years when I’m alone/And the bed where you lie is made up on your side” that deal with internal conflict a little bit, and these words are matched by an anthology of cheesy love stories in the music video. The chorus makes these lyrics feel a bit more catchy, with some explosive Drum sequences and a lightly distorted guitar melody creating enough of a Hard Rock angle to the tune, reminding us that it is, indeed, a track by Avril Lavigne. Personally, I felt it was fine. This is superficially like any kind of Pop-Rock ballad though, with some contemplative songwriting and some touching instrumentation lending the record at least a little bit of emotional depth. My issue is that there’s absolutely no subtlety here, however, and it simply feels too straightforward for the vocals to really tug at my heart strings very much. There’s some nice Piano sequences and a lower tempo that gives the track a slightly poetic feel, but the bombastic drums and the basic themes feel a bit soulless and lacking in much of a distinctive character. Overall, this is a so-so effort that tackles themes of both loss and longing in a warming way, but not a poignant one due to the simplicity.

  • Pictured: Avril Lavigne at an undisclosed gig on tour (2012) (Photo via Zine Cultural/Getty Images)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my new post on the blog today, and I’ll be back to do it all over again tomorrow by kicking off the new week of music with an in-depth look at the current LP from a Swedish House DJ who is the owner of the Young Ethics label and he has also been featured on KEXP’s Song Of The Day podcast.

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Scuzz Sundays: Bowling For Soup – “Almost”

September 19, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Jaret Reddick (Lead Vocals/Slide Guitar), Chris Burney (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Rob Felicetti (Bass Guitar/Acoustic Guitar) & Gary Wiseman (Drums/Backing Vocals) (2015) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and THAT time of the week has arrived where we talk about the teenage music from THAT phase of our lives, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week’s delve into the ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library comes from the 00’s Texan Pop-Punk staples Bowling For Soup, who were formed in Wichita Falls around 1994. They have previously made two appearances on the blog, with their last being a bizzare rock anthem named after the female WWE wrestler Alexa Bliss, which was unveiled to the world last February as a single. ‘Almost’ is another one of their classics, and it’s fair to note that Bowling For Soup are really one of the few surviving members of the ‘Scuzz’ music video scene of the late 90’s to early 00’s, and so they have done pretty damn well for themselves to be honest, and my slowly maturing ear buds had a little soft spot for the Jaret Reddick-led quintet when I was younger, and so they strike me as a little bit underrated, compared to acts like Avril Lavigne and Paramore, in the mainstream rock sphere. ‘Almost’ was the second single to be taken from their fifth album, ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’, which was the boys’ third album released on Jive Records. The album also features ‘1985’, another one of the band’s most well-known singles, which quickly reached Top 40 radio chart status and peaked at #5 on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 chart. ‘Almost’ memorize it below.

As well as writing and recording odd teenage crush-like songs about Alexa Bliss and how cool she is, Bowling For Soup have taken a few other steps into wider popular culture. For example, you may have heard the theme tune for the very popular Disney Channel animated TV series ‘Phineas and Ferb’, which ran for a fairly long time between 2008 and 2015. You’re also less likely to know that Reddick’s band created the vocal track for ‘Sonic Unleashed’, a video game released in 2008 for several platforms. Meanwhile, ‘Almost’ came before these wacky creative endeavors, and it tells the simple story of a young adult character, who seems very stereotypical by media standards, who goes through several ‘Almost’ experiences during his life. Redick goes on about “I almost got drunk at school at 14/Where I almost made out with the homecoming queen/Who almost went on to be Miss Texas” and he recites rhythmic lyrics like “I almost dropped out to move to LA/Where I was almost famous for almost a day” where he tries to get the title word in as much as humanly possible, it seems. The chorus goes for a slightly more sentimental feel, with hooks like “I almost had you/But I guess that doesn’t cut it” and “I almost wish you would have loved me too” that bounce off the playful refrains in the verses, with a more fiery note of “I almost wrote a song about you today/But I tore it all up and then I threw it away” to trigger the more raucous finale. You could say that it ‘Almost’ feels like a celebration of life’s little moments when we can each get tangled up in the excitement of ‘Almost’ achieving a personal goal, and so the fact that Redick’s song actually has a relatable meaning makes it feel above the average level of other Pop-Punk bands of the time. There’s still definitely a 00’s sitcom theme tune feeling to this one, as usual for Bowling For Soup’s tunes, but at least he tries to say something vaguely meaningful here. There’s still plenty of references to sex and booze that characterized this era of Pop-Punk to a stereotypical tee, but it’s mostly done with a tongue-in-cheek nature and an acknowledging way. The instrumentation is pretty typical for the time too, with Reddick using a nasal voice delivery over the top of melodic guitar riffs and some mid-tempo drum sequences, with a tiny bit of distortion on the bass guitars along the way, however. All in all, I reckon this one is still decent. It’s certainly not a masterpiece and it relies on the Pop-Punk archetypes of the day, but there’s some good fun to be had here. The lyrics are a tad subversive and the songwriting comes close to having a message that you can latch on to. It is pretty catchy, with lyrically barbed verses and clean guitar picking riffs that work well together. ‘Almost’ a big hit.

  • Pictured: An image from the official music video for Bowling For Soup’s ‘Alexa Bliss’ (2020) (via PR)

As mentioned above, we’ve heard from Bowling For Soup previously on the blog, and so I hope that I may have piqued your interest in catching up on a few of my other posts concerning them. Check out their recent hit ‘Alexa Bliss’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/12/todays-track-bowling-for-soup-alexa-bliss/ and revisit their 00’s classic ‘Girl All The Bad Guys’ want: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/01/scuzz-sundays-bowling-for-soup-girl-all-the-bad-guys-want/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Drunk Enough To Dance’ (LP) (Released on August 6th, 2002) (via Jive Records)

Thank you for reaching the bottom of the page with me today! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, for an in-depth look at a track that I wish that I’d gotten around to covering nearer to the time of its release, and it comes from a singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and model from New Orleans, Louisiana who began her impressive career after she auditioned for the US reality talent show ‘Making The Band 3’ in 2004.

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Today’s Track: Caroline Polachek – “Bunny Is A Rider”

September 18, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Caroline Polachek in a PR shoot for a ‘Fader’ interview (2019) (Photo Credit: Nedda Asfari)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for us both to take a few minutes out of our frantically busy Saturdays to invest in yet another daily track on the blog, seeing that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you asked me to give you a list of solo artists that I feel could be right on the cusp of breaking out into mainstream territory, the New York-based electronic Art Pop singer-songwriter Caroline Polachek would be near the top of such a list. She began to explore her interests in music production when she studied at The University Of Colorado, where she attended gigs by the Post-Hardcore, Dark Pop and Post-Punk bands of the Brooklyn scene of the late 90’s and early 00’s. Since that time, she co-founded the indie pop band Chairlift, who were active until 2017, and she worked on her solo side projects of Ramona Lisa and CEP. In more recent years, she has started releasing music under her own name and she began working frequently with the producer Danny L. Harle since the release of her debut solo album, ‘PANG’, in 2019. Polachek has now worked extensively with other artists, including Charli XCX and Blood Orange, and she wrote Beyonce’s single ‘No Angel’, which was released in 2013. She has also penned music for Travis Scott and SBTRKT. ‘Bunny Is A Rider’, her new single, was released last month, and it yet again finds her working with Danny L Harle as her producer. She will also be supporting none other than Dua Lipa on her ‘Future Nostalgia’ tour that starts in February. Let’s give it a spin.

First making its grand debut as Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’ on BBC Radio 1 on July 14th, according to Polachek, “Bunny Is A Rider is a summer jam about being unavailable”, which she states in her press notes. She tells us, “Bunny is slippery, impossible to get ahold of. Maybe it’s a fantasy, maybe it’s a bad attitude. But anyone can be blurry, at least for three minutes and seventeen seconds”, and she finally concludes that the single “features a scorching Bass performance from Danny L. Harle, plus his baby daughter’s first vocal cameo” in the statement. I would start by writing that I think classifying this one as a total Afrobeat tune is a bit of a push, but I can definitely sense an influence of the Nigerian genre in the spicy and absurd palette of sonic sounds. The lyrics are vague, with Polachek simply using lyrics like “Bunny is a rider/Satellite can’t find her” and “No sympathy/Ain’t nothing for free” that skew towards Art Pop and create a sense of intrigue for the song’s real meaning. It is unclear what ‘Bunny’ represents, with some allegories for ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and ideas on the illusion of womanhood being scattered around the electronic Pop direction of the freshly conceived melodies. For the verses, Polachek even switches to a first-person perspective, reciting lyrics such as “But I’m so non-physical/I do, I do, feel like a lady” with a twitchy and gliding delivery that feels widely processed to a point. There’s also some parallels to Of Montreal’s tune ‘Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider’ from 2007 in the track title and subject matter, but it’s no more clear whether this is an intentional decision or a pure coincidence. The production feels more detailed, however, with Danny L. Harle mixing up some catchy R&B backdrops and a punchy bassline to make the single feel accessible enough to casual listeners, despite some obscure lyricism that feels literacy-based, and I think the songwriting would have been more effective when given the context of a full album to connect the themes more tightly together. Overall, what we’ve already gotten here is pretty decent. The creativity feels unique enough to not draw an immediate comparison with her contemporary peers and so the track feels quite original on the whole. The enigmatic lyrics are given plenty of energy to bounce from too, with the chopped child vocal samples and the snappy, Pop-driven Synth arrangements giving the single a light-hearted danceability. Although not dream-like, it’s a cryptic puzzle of mostly pleasure.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Bunny Is a Rider’ (Single) (Released on July 14th, 2021) (via Perpetual Novice)

That note brings us to the end of the page for another day, and, thank you for your support, because it is always very much appreciated. It’s ‘Scuzz Sundays’ tomorrow, and we’ll be revisiting one of the few surviving Pop-Punk groups of the very cheesy era of Emo anthems. The Wichita Falls-based rockers have made two appearances on the blog, although it has been a while since we’ve heard from them, and so I’m letting myself off a bit for the potential overexposure. Today’s youth might know them for releasing a rather nerdy rock anthem titled after the female WWE wrestler Alexa Bliss.

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Scuzz Sundays: The All American Rejects – “Dirty Little Secret”

September 5, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Move Along’ (LP) (Released on July 12th, 2005) (via Interscope Records)

Good Morning to you! This is, of course, Jacob Braybrooke, and this is the time of the week where we revisit some of the Pop-Punk anthems of the past – typically released between the late-90’s and the mid-00’s – to see whether any of the most popular music from THAT phase of our lives can still hold a candle to quality in the modern times, and that fits in with my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It’s been a hot minute since we wrote about The All American Rejects other major hit, ‘Gives You Hell’, for the feature, and so it naturally feels like a decent time to unveil their other big ‘Dirty Little Secret’. This was a commercially successful rock band from Stillwater, a city in the state of Oklahoma, who were one of the Dreamworks Records pack of the Scuzz TV Pop-Punk 00’s that had also included bands like Smash Mouth and Papa Roach among their line-up. Led by Tyson Ritter, the 4-piece group have shifted units to the heights of Platinum success when they hit the peak of their popularity, and ‘Dirty Little Secret’ was certified Gold in the UK in 2019, almost ten years after the original release of the single. These days, the band do not seem to be working on albums anymore, but they have continued to tour and in 2019, they released a new single on their new label Epitath. They were ranked at #183 on Billboard’s ‘200 Artists Of The Decade’ list in 2010. Spin ‘Dirty Little Secret’ below.

‘Dirty Little Secret’ was not actually about an angsty end to a youthful relationship, as commonly assumed, but the memorable hit track was actually written about a light case of tax fraud experienced by frontman Tyson Ritter and the follow-up of a hasty cover up that cleared up the boys time for finishing off their second studio album, ‘Move Along’, a well-enough reviewed sophomore release that spawned three top 15 singles in the US, and therefore bolstered the LP’s appeal to solid sales to the tune of a Double Platinum certification by the RIAA after the milestone of two million copies was met. ‘Dirty Little Secret’ led the band to become a fair household name, and so it’s definitely the type of music that you would have expected to hear from them, and the genre, at the time. The driving bass melodies power it to the Power-Pop side that bands like Relient K or Wheatus aimed for, and this formula of mostly pure Pop meets a light slab of Punk worked out well for the fame-seeking dreams of these artists at the time. Lyrics like “You are the only one that needs to know” and “These sleeping thoughts won’t lie” largely fit the themes of secrets and, ironically, don’t reveal too much, and that works out in favour of the songwriting here because it gives things a little bit of fun, rather than simply blurting out the obvious meaning, if you will. The furnishings of Acoustic Guitar in the beginning soon become more distorted and dirty guitar riffs, and we’re led into a vastly more Grunge-influenced second half that gives proceedings more of an edge, albeit very briefly. The chorus has a catchy hook of “I’ll keep you my dirty little secret” that scream for a festival crowd to sing along to, and the straightforward Drums give the production a tighter feel. The vocals feel a bit generic for the time, and the lyrics aren’t really that interesting, and it’s a catchy Pop-Rock tune from the 00’s that plays out predictably. However, I place an emphasis on the word of ‘Catchy’ there, because it is a pleasant tune to listen to as it simply feels punchy and engaging. On the whole, this is not necessarily great, but when I was younger I found that All-American Rejects were one of the better ‘Trashy’ bands of the era, and this is nowhere near the absurd levels of Crazy Town or The Bloodhound Gang. It perhaps borrows from too many typical ideas from its time, but the self-indulgence of Ritter’s vocal delivery and the snappy guitar melodies were enough to keep me entertained. Inoffensive and rather anthemic, ‘Dirty Little Secret’ didn’t ever quite match the feel-good fun of ‘Gives You Hell’ for me, but it’s a fair effort to do so. Harmless and reasonably nice, its success was understandably no secret for the band.

  • Pictured: Tyson Ritter (Lead Vocals/Keyboard/Piano/Acoustic Guitar), Nick Wheeler (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals/Synths), Mike Kennerty (Rhythm Guitar) and Chris Gaylor (Drums/Percussion) (2018) (Photo by Jeff Neumann/AlternativeMusicPress.com)

Right – that leaves us at the end of the line for another week. Thank you for joining me, and I’ll be back to kick off the next week of daily uploads from the morning onwards. Tomorrow’s track gives us a closer look at one of the upcoming weekend’s new EP releases, and it comes from a project who previously made an appearance on the blog in January, and have been supported by Lauren Laverne on a recent episode of ‘The New Music Fix’ on BBC Radio 6 Music. This Avant-Garde Duo is formed up of two previous members of Spring King, who have been on the cover of Dork Magazine.

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