Emo-Pop

Scuzz Sundays: Evanescence – “Call Me When You’re Sober”

August 29, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Open Door’ (LP) (Released on September 25, 2006) (via Wind Up Records)

Good Morning to you! You’re reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, I have returned from my short break away from the blog, and so it’s time for me to add another entry to our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library, because it is – once again – my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It has been a little while since we had a female-led band featured on a ‘Scuzz Sunday’ on the site and I like to be inclusive for all on the site, so I’ve decided to whip up a quick one from Amy Lee’s Evanescence today since, all things considered, they are a good quality group. The lead single from their second album – ‘The Open Door’ – released in 2006, ‘Call Me When You’re Sober’ reached the top five of the UK singles chart that year. For their second album, the Arkansas 5-piece group decided to head towards a Symphonic Metal direction and they used backing vocals from choirs when the album was written over an 18 month period. Evanescence have always sold well in European markets, and this album was no different because ‘The Open Door’ topped the album charts in Greece, Switzerland, Germany and Australia too. The record also won ‘Album Of The Year’ at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards in 2007, and the record has also been certified as Double Platinum according to the RIAA. Let’s revisit the lead single below.

The pressure was certainly mounting up for Amy Lee’s quintet to deliver the goods for the follow-up LP to their widely successful ‘Fallen’ debut in 2003, and they made small steps to repeating their huge success with ‘Call Me When You’re Sober’, a single that reached ten of the different component Billboard charts in the US. Lee wrote the anthemic single about her dwindled relationship with Seether’s lead vocalist, Shaun Morgan, and she recorded the soon-to-be hit of the time with co-producer Dave Fortman (Slipknot, Simple Plan) as she penned the lyrics about how addiction issues had terminated the ties with her former love interest. To change things up, Lee’s band transformed the Grunge sounds of ‘Bring Me To Life’ and such earlier hits for a more sultry mix of strings and delayed pedal effects for ‘Call Me When You’re Sober’, while the rest of ‘The Open Door’ included a few classical Piano ballads. This single would have played out as more familiar for their fans though, with hard-hitting lyrics like “Don’t cry to me/If you loved me/You would be here with me” and “Sick with shame, Must be exhausting to lose your own game” being recited above a fairly radio friendly style of melodramatic guitar riffs and mascara-wearing aggression. Lee still seems very confident in what she’s going after here, however, and she delivers these lines with a cool confidence that suggests a little bit more than simply selling units. While the instrumentation is admittedly a little on the forgettable or even predictable side of her usual angle, the whimsical Piano breaks and the sweeping bass melodies are packaged together neatly. There’s some nice personality to the slightly evil sort-of chuckle towards the end, and the assortment of Strings towards the melodic chorus decorates the proceedings with a solid coat of polish. Overall, this is a haunting monologue that may come off as a bit bland or a bit too pop-oriented at times, but it certainly does more good than it does any real harm. Amy Lee’s vocals are lovely, as always, and the swooping mixture of different instruments feels very neat overall. It definitely has a lot of polish to it, but it has enough substance to stand out nicely enough by the time it stops spinning. A solid, if not quite up to personal best, offering.

  • Pictured: Amy Lee (Lead Vocals/Keyboard), Troy McLawhorn (Lead Guitar), Jen Majura (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Tim McCord (Bass Guitar) & Will Hunt (Drums) (2020) (Photo via Concord.com)

If you want to revisit another taste of Evanescence’s 00’s days, then make sure that you are ‘Going Under’ with me for an in-depth dig through their prior discography here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/11/scuzz-sundays-evanescence-going-under/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Fallen” (Released on 3rd March, 2003) (via Wind-Up/Epic Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your patience in allowing me to deliver some new content to your eats when the time suited me, and I’ll be kicking off a brand new week of daily music recommendations tomorrow with a sleeper hit from a British female indie rock singer-songwriter from Ripon, North Yorkshire. She started to gain attention by attracting new viewers to her acoustic YouTube performances in their hundreds when she was only twelve years old, and, in 2015, she was nominated for the BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2016’ Award.

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New Album Release Fridays: Billie Eilish – “Lost Cause”

July 30, 2021 — Leave a comment

This is ‘No Time To Die’ for the masses of the Bad Guy’s fans out there. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Happier Than Ever’ (LP) (Released on July 30th, 2021) (via Interscope Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s finally time for yet another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Although I mostly cover the Alternative and Electronic varieties of music here on the site, I felt that US Dark-Pop sensation Billie Eilish was just too popular for me to ignore, and, to tell the truth, I rather liked what she did on her ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ record. Flash forward to two years from that time, and, the follow-up, ‘Happier Than Ever’, which comes from Darkroom Records, Eilish and her brother Finneas’ subsidiary of Interscope Records, has made its way to shop shelves today. To be honest, though, it really doesn’t feel like two years and I think that’s because Eilish has stayed in the consciousness of the mainstream between that time. The earlier album was such a huge hit and, in this day and age, it’s very common for pop stars to release a new single every six weeks or so because it operates like a fast food business, and I’m aware that Eilish has released singles like ‘Therefore I Am’ and ‘Everything I Wanted’ in the said interim, as well as composing the theme track for the upcoming James Bond film, although, given the amount of delays the studio has given that movie because they want the big bucks at the box office, I strongly suggest that ‘Plenty Of Time To Die’ would have been a far more appropriate title for that project. Check out the taster single ‘Lost Cause’ below.

Other than ‘Happier Than Ever’, I have to digress that it looks like slim pickings for me elsewhere. Other new offerings include the new record from Bleachers, yet another side project of pop’s busiest producer Jack Antonoff. Erasure have been preparing for the release of their remixed re-release of ‘The Neon’ today, and Bristol’s Yola takes a ‘Stand For Myself’ on her new second LP, as its title depicts. Back to the task at hand, Eilish sings about a toxic relationship and how damaging these situations can be for young people, while flipping the gender stereotypes on their head again, on ‘Lost Cause’. Counteracting the strong R&B influence of the chopped-up Drums with the Emo/Goth atmosphere of the glitchy counter-melodies, Eilish sings dramatic lyrics like “I sent you flowers, did you even care?” and “I used to think you were shy/But maybe you just had nothing on your mind” that are honest and playful, while Finneas shines behind the boards with a minimalist Trap beat and some harrowing Synth riffs that keep the sounds rolling with a nice balance of melody and darkness. The chorus introduces a soft guitar groove to the blend of R&B and Pop-Punk, as Eilish sings anthemic lines like “You ain’t nothing but a lost cause” and “I know you think you’re such an outlaw” in her typically low-pitched voice that skews more towards a whisper than an actual croon. Overall, I quite enjoyed this. The biggest reason being that Eilish could have easily turned this into a generic screamer of a teenage Pop track, but she didn’t, and she goes for something much more understated and austere instead. One of the gripes that I had, however, was also with the vocal tones. In some cases, the quiet bridge towards the end especially, she sounds a little more like she’s bored and also rather uninterested in the song, with some poorly filtered distortion effects, and I ultimately think the act of ‘Billie Eilish’ is more of a duo, with Finneas, than casual listeners may have picked up on. Otherwise, I felt this was certainly above-average in comparison to other modern mainstream artists who are never far away from chart success. That’s largely in part to her toying around with gender politics, and simply because I felt the song itself was pretty catchy. There’s more of a ‘night life’ style to this one, with some playful instrumentation and a slight Blues influence that makes the self-indulgence of her attitude come across organically enough, and that makes it quite charming. She doesn’t look particularly “Happy” on that album cover, however.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ (LP) (Released on March 29th, 2019) (via Interscope Records)

That brings us to the end of the page for another 24 hour period. Thank you for your continued support, and please feel free to join me tomorrow for something that’s also a little rare to make an appearance on the site. We’re listening to some brand new music from one of Metal’s top names, whose discography has grown to a staggering number of 40 LP releases – including albums, live albums, EP’s, and Compilation CD’s.

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Today’s Track: Holly Humberstone – “The Walls Are Way Too Thin”

July 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

Someone really had some relatable lyrics to write in the ‘New Normal’. New post time!

  • Pictured: Holly Humberstone with Dave Bayley (from Glass Animals) (2021) (Photo via DIYMag.com)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for your daily track on the blog, just like always, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A 21-year-old singer-songwriter from Grantham, England – Holly Humberstone is being tipped by the higher powers that be to be one of the biggest young homegrown talents to break out in the near future, with performances on US talk shows and her performance on the ‘BBC Introducing’ stage of Glastonbury Festival, back in 2019, giving her the platform to display her songwriting skills to large, casual audiences. Humberstone fell in love with music while studying at Liverpool’s Institute Of Performing Arts from April 2019, and Damien Rice’s debut album ‘O’ is considered by her to be her ‘first favourite album’, also citing similar peers like HAIM and Ben Howard as big influences. Prickling ears with her self-released 2020 EP, ‘Falling Asleep At The Wheel’, Humberstone has inked a record contract with major label Polydor Records, and also a publishing deal with Universal Music to bring her upcoming second EP, ‘Emotional Grim Reaper’, to the big leagues when it launches in November. She usually writes about her experiences of feeling like an outsider when moving away from her childhood home, and these themes of isolation and long distance are explored again in her BBC Radio 1-playlisted tune ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’. Give it a shot with her ‘Later With Jools Holland’ live session.

“The writing for the second EP has been really fun because I’ve been able to experiment and expand my little sonic universe”, Holly Humberstone told DIYMag in an interview about her forthcoming new releases earlier in the year, “I’m constantly trying to be better than my first song, and I think it’s a million times better than my first EP”, she noted. Written in a time where she would take long train journeys to get terribly drunk with her friends as a way of escapism from claustrophobia and living in a small, dive London flat alone, Humberstone’s ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’ falls into a Bedroom Pop space where it’s great listening for when you feel stuck in your mind, or a place, and want to get out, as she vents out on her frustrations and negative mind-set at the time. She addresses a close friend with her lyrics, as she sings lines like “There was a possible connection on the table for a second/Then she made such an entrance/Can’t stand all the tension/Can you?” in the first verse to discuss social awkwardness and her uncertainty towards a life away from her homely comforts. The second verse, with lyrics like “You’re blowing smoke rings in the corridors/I feel so cold/The house is full, but I’m alone” talks about her suspended distance from her close relationships with others. The pre-chorus sees her reach a peak, as she croons “The same old sad songs I cling to/Cause I just wanna be out of the picture” to signify her boiling point for mental health struggles. The instrumentation skews towards Alternative a little, but the glistening Synth backbeat and the energetic guitar chords keeps her grievances relatable to young listeners. A coming-of-age story about reclaiming your identity away from a bright past, the track is a catchy dark-tinged Pop tune that nicely defies the tropes of a sad commercial “Goth” song. To offer my constructive criticism, the studio version is a little reliant on vocal effects, for me. The production choice gives her a clear and slick delivery, but I always prefer hearing the natural voice of the singer because it makes me feel closer to them, rather than sounding similar to somebody else. It’s not a big deal, however, but just a matter of personal preference on my part. Otherwise, it makes for an engaging listen and it’s certainly above the average tier for the major label artists of today, for me. I like the purity of her songwriting and the 80’s vibe of the electronic beats gives it an uplifting energy, paired with some honest lyrical expressions, so the walls aren’t caving in yet.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Falling Asleep At The Wheel’ (EP) (Released on Aug 14, 2020) (via Self-Released)

Thank you for sticking with me until the end once again! It’s ‘Scuzz Sundays’ tomorrow, and we’re complementing the absolutely boiling hot weather (here in the UK) with a summer-themed Pop-Punk anthem from the late 1990’s. The Pop-Punk band in question are from Orange County, California who have released six studio albums, and their drummer took part in an episode of MTV’s ‘Cribs’.

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Scuzz Sundays: Wheatus – “Teenage Dirtbag”

June 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

A celebrity is next door. He lives on my block and he drives an I-Roc. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Teenage Dirtbag” (Single) (Released on June 20, 2000) (via Columbia Records)

Good Afternoon to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – prepping you up for another ‘Scuzz Sunday’ as we enjoy a throw back to the rock music video channels of old, with tracks that were originally unleashed to the masses between the late-90’s and the mid-00’s, to find out whether they hold up to quality and value in our modern society. If you haven’t heard Wheatus ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ before, you’ve either been living under a rock for 20 years or you might need to get your local GP to examine your hearing. This tune was everywhere when it was released back in 2000, and it became the personal anthem of many adolescent teenagers going through a particular phase of their lives, questionable haircuts and all. Sadly, it was also Wheatus’ one and only hit, although the band are technically still active and the lead vocalist, Brendan B. Brown, was featured on the title track of Math The Band’s new album, ‘Flange Factory Five’, which came out last October. ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ never excited the professional music press much, but it was still a gigantic commercial success by selling five million units worldwide, as of 2014, and it stays continually relevant with licensing for film & TV productions like Netflix’s ‘The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina’, ‘Girlboss’ and HBO’s ‘Generation Kill’. Come with me Friday and don’t say maybe with the old video below.

It’s quite surprising that we haven’t covered ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ on the ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature before considering that it was such a memorable hit single from the peak era of MTV, and it’s success expanded beyond their domestic territory of the US. In Australia, it was certified three times platinum and it stayed at the #1 spot in the charts for four weeks. In the UK, it was certified as platinum twice in 2018. It also reached the top of the charts in Austria, and it also peaked at #2 in both Ireland and Germany, it’s burgeoning popularity inspired by a childhood experience of Brendan B. Brown’s. I think it’s fair to point out that it’s very much a Power-Pop record, and it doesn’t really qualify as Pop-Punk because it bears little resemblance to the core elements of that category. The instrumentation is almost dream-like, with a rickety acoustic guitar riff, hilariously dated record scratches and an angsty Drum part. Brown paints the picture of the scene with lines like “But she doesn’t know who I am/And she doesn’t give a damn about me” and “Her boyfriend’s a d**k, and he brings a gun to school” that are a funny, hook-led breakdown of an awkward adolescent teenage crush at high school. The production is a light Hip-Hop pastiche, there’s no distortion, and the chorus is the defining aspect of the tune. It finds the soft, coffee shop guitar riff unleashing the heavy weight of an overdrive pedal. The mightily quantized Drums, the melodic angst of the guitar melody, and the collision of sounds makes a coherent sort-of sense, and it’s easy to sing along to. The bridge is also very memorable, as Brown tries to emulate a female voice with a mild Falsetto effect, which isn’t very convincing, although I’m not sure that it’s supposed to be potent. The lyrics are pretty horrendous. Why is he a Teenage Dirtbag? Because he listens to Iron Maiden. This mixture is endearing, however, and you easily find yourself having a lot of fun with it, however dumb it is. I find it strange how the video has been censored too, since the teenage market was the target audience for buying it, but, on the whole, it’s still a lot of fun and it doesn’t feel like it’s been overplayed too heavily. It’s not brilliant, or even ‘good’ from an intellectual standpoint, but it was only ever trying to be a popcorn Pop song that you can blast to the full volume in your car and sing along to. Without guilt.

  • Pictured: Brendan B. Brown (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Matthew Milligan (Electric Upright Bass), Brandon Ticer (Keyboard) and Leo Freire (Drums) (2020) (Photo by Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images)

Thank you for taking today’s trip down memory lane with me – and please make sure to join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at some brand new music from an American indie folk singer-songwriter who is releasing her latest solo album next week. It marks her second appearance on the site, and you may know her as a previous member of the trio Boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, who have also found similar solo success in recent months. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Linkin Park – “In The End”

June 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

It was just another walk in the park for Agoura Hill’s Metal youths. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Hybrid Theory” (LP) (Released on October 24th, 2020) (via Warner Bros Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – as always – for another entry in our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ catalogue, as we re-examine the output of our conduit for THAT phase of the late-1990’s through to the mid-2000’s, to see whether these heavy hits of yore still hold up to quality and value, not forgetting that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘In The End’ by California crossover staples Linkin Park is, if we are being honest, a basic choice for the feature. However, since we haven’t covered anything else close to it yet, here we are. Back in the day, Linkin Park’s music spanned a fusion of Rap-Rock and Nu-Metal before the band went much more mainstream, so to speak, with a sound that is really straight-up Pop music. A lot of their recent material isn’t exactly a creative endeavor, I’ll put it that way for you. There was a time, however, where, the controversy aside, Linkin Park were the ‘poster boys’ of the MTV Rock brand in the US, with significant exposure on the channels and selling their way to over 100 million albums worldwide. Kerrang named them ‘The Biggest Rock Band In The World Right Now’ in 2014, and the band are still working on new music to this day, despite a brief hiatus that began in 2017. ‘In The End’ was one of the main singles from 2000’s ‘Hybrid Theory’, which became certified as a rare Diamond by the RIAA. Just this year, it became the first-ever Nu-Metal classed track to surpass one billion streams on Spotify. Give it a whirl below.

The crown jewel of 2000’s ‘Hybrid Theory’, ‘In The End’ easily crossed over to the mainstream singles charts worldwide, reaching #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, as a real sleeper hit, since it eventually reached the Top 40 two years following it’s release. It remains to be one of Linkin Park’s most recognisable tracks, despite a story which reports that the amusingly named lead vocalist Chester Bennington initially disliked ‘In The End’ and he didn’t want for it to make the cut of the track listing for ‘Hybrid Theory’, and so that would have been a mistake. A signature example of Linkin Park’s more popular and acclaimed sound, ‘In The End’ is known for it’s moody Piano riffs and it’s infusions of Rapcore elements, as Mike Shioda raps in the verses, before Bennington takes the lead for a melodramatic chorus. The lyrics are dealing with a break-up amongst Bennington’s constant struggle with drug abuse and the divorce of his two parents. Shioda’s Rap-Rock verses result in bars like “Time is a valuable thing/Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings” and “Watch it count down to the end of the day/The clock ticks life away” that combines the raw feel of Eminem with the hard-edged rock vibes of Evanescence. They come across as motivational, while the familiar chorus from Bennington is more bleak, depicting a conflict of emotions, chanting “I had to fall/To lose it all/But in the end/It doesn’t even matter” with a very heightened quality. The guitar riffs mix a wave of distortion with a catchy rhythm, and the glitched Drum shuffle which leads the verse adds some more depth. I feel this is a decent tune that is a victim of the ‘overexposure system’, so to speak, where it has been over-played to death to such a silly point now, and it’s difficult to invest in too emotionally. I quite like the moody aesthetics and the electronic Synth patterns, however, since I’m really not a “fan” of Linkin Park typically, it’s hard for me to judge. I find the rapping to be a little too much on the Corny side, and the overly angry chorus lacks range, with a flat, one-dimensional vocal delivery which downplays the emotion a little bit for me. That said, it was innovative for it’s time and a mismatch of different genre pieces, with a theatrical quality that appeals to a diversity of listeners, so I can easily see why it’s done, and it’s still doing in the decades since, big business for itself.

  • Pictured: Chester Bennington (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Joe Hahn (Turntables/Sampling/Programming/Backing Vocals), Mike Shinoda (Rapping/Keyboard/Synths), Rob Bourdon (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals), Brad Delson (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Dave “Phoenix” Farrell (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) (2012) (Photography via National Geographic.com)

On that note – you’ve reached The End of another daily post here on the blog. We’re gunning for a transition into some smoother electronic music tomorrow, as we review some brand new music from a Bournemouth-born Ambient and IDM music producer who previously made an appearance on the site with his tribute track to the late-great DJ Andy Weatherhall, and he’s got a brand new album on the way for September. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Wallice (feat. Marinelli) – “Hey Michael”

May 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling… 23? On that note – It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Hey Michael” (Single) (Released on April 6th, 2021) (via Self-Released)

Good Afternoon to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to read all about your daily track on the blog that I’ve designated especially for you, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A 23-year-old self-described “Jazz School Dropout” from Los Angeles, California – Wallice Hana Watanabe made her first baby steps into becoming an indie rock artist when she started playing a Trumpet at the age of 7, before switching to the Cello at the age of 9, and later starting to write her own music at the age of 12. Now a young songstress turning heads with her own witty blend of sharp-pointed soft Punk and her observational lyricism about growing older, Wallice is set to release her debut EP, ‘Off The Rails’ on June 4th independently. It follows up the singles ’23’ and ‘Punching Bag’, which Wallice co-produced with her childhood friend, Marinelli, who gets an official co-featured artist credit on her latest offering, ‘Hey Michael’. She says the track is a “revenge anthem for anyone who has encountered a gaslighting, manipulative person” in her respective press notes for the track about toxic tendencies and how characters can manifest in our lives. Check out the Phil Stillwell-directed video below.

During an interview that I read with Wallice with Kieran Rogers for Clout, she cited some of her many influences as being Radiohead, Big Thief and Phoebe Bridgers, and she says that you can probably hear a few of their blueprints when you listen to her own music. For me, personally, Wallice makes me imagine what would happen if she was the lovechild between US music icon Beck and the hillariously deadpan US comedienne and actress Aubrey Plaza. In ‘Hey Michael’, you get an equal dosage of smarky remarks and bouncy, slightly off-beat, musicianship. I think it’s fair to say we’ve all known someone just like Wallice’s ‘Michael’ in our college years, and so her comical references to Mad Men and sharp stabs at pretentious characters who may rave on about Pulp Fiction feel relatable, but most importantly, they feel justified. The opening verse of “I heard you’re pretty good at Drums/I think that’s pretty cool/But if you try to f**k my pretty friend/I’ll push you in the pool” sets the scene perfectly, with a dry vocal delivery that allows the humor to feel just a tiny bit uncomfortable for decent effect. The chorus builds to a more melodic payoff, with lines like “You’re the life of the party/But the party is already over” and “I think I wanna start a fight/Which one is your girlfriend?” that lets the comedy shine, while simultaneously giving her Michael a hard time of humiliation and embarrassment. The vocal harmonies give us a solid singing performance, and the instrumentation is put together well. The guitar riffs get a little more abrasive in the chorus, and the mid-tempo pacing of the verses build nicely to a faster chorus. The guest spot from Marinelli trades out the electric guitar sounds for some subtle 80’s New Wave synths to keep things varied, and the somewhat abrupt ending adds an element of suprise to the package. Overall, it’s hard to find any fault in this one. It reminds me of the music that Pink used to make in the mid-00’s like ‘So What’ before she went more mellow in recent times, with lyrics that feel bitingly honest and sarcastically strong. I’d be interested to see how she expands upon her current sound to keep a full-length project, such as an album, entertaining. A very promising start for her overall and she looks very Suave in her suit. Just saying.

  • Pictured: Wallice in a promotional photoshoot for “23” (2021) (Photography by Jerry Maestas)

That’s all for today – Thanks for checking out what I had to share today! ‘New Album Release Fridays’ is on for tomorrow, as we discuss one of the weekend’s new album releases. Tomorrow’s spotlight sees the second apperance of a Michigan-native alternative folk band drawing from cinematic inspirations. The group have earned the distinction of performing on Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show in the US and, perhaps, their best known tune, ‘The Night We Met’ has been streamed over 735 million times online. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Drug Store Romeos – “What’s On Your Mind?”

April 29, 2021 — 1 Comment

‘For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo’. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “The World Within Our Bedrooms” (Available: June 25, 2021) (Fiction Records)

Good Morning to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s finally time again for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A brand new indie dream-rock band from the self-described ‘sleepy’ town of Hampshire in England – the trio of Drug Store Romeos have, thus far, released five critically acclaimed singles together, and their latest one comes with the announcement of a full-length debut album being released in the summer. ‘The World Within Our Bedrooms’ arrives on June 25th via Fiction Records, where you would also find acts like Snow Patrol, Kate Tempest and Billie Marten. The band members have all been associated with each other since meeting at school at nearby Farnborough, and they’re set to perform at End Of The Road festival in September. They say the album is like a “Kaleidoscopic exploration from the heart of middle England”, and it’s lead single comes with a music video directed by Qianhu Yu. I’ll try my best to find out ‘What’s On Your Mind?’ below.

‘What’s On Your Mind?’ was premiered by Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 6Music, and the band say that “The last half of the song is our interpretation of a mental journey through realizations about past situations that send you down rabbit holes of thought that end up linking to other rabbit holes”, and it’s certainly a track that sounds like it might be best experienced at a late-evening time when you’re settling in your duvet to go to bed. The lyrics are vague, with spectral verses like “Wondering how/Things have turned this way/Often I’m glancing, to another day” and “Given an insight, Let me catch a thought/Perspective so often/Come up short” that skew towards the poetic. Matched by some mid-tempo guitar lines with delay pedal effects to slow the instrumentals down and some slightly glitching keyboard riffs, it seems like an argument has taken place with a friend, love interest or a parent, but the lack of detail gives space for the slow chords and a feeling of vulnerability to show through the crackled drum beats and the fragmented, experimental song structure. There’s enough of an outline to draw a sentimental meaning from, however, and the escapist Synth beats and the nimble Drum rhythms add enough of a melodicism to counteract the otherwise cerebral layout. The half-way point marks the cue for a change of pace, as the drum part gradually gets faster and a yearning backing vocal comes out of the self-reflective qualities of the lyrics. The abandoning of clear-cut vocals makes for a more acidic and dream-like feel, with a beguiling bass-line and a beating guitar melody slowly increasing the tempo. The sound reminds me of Shoegaze groups like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, while the enigmatic vocals and more expansive electronics calls to bands like Beach House or The Big Moon. Whereas most bands play a consistent tone throughout their albums, Drug Store Romeos seem to be going for a more fluctuating mood, one where we’re exploring the ever-changing mental state of our narrator over a stretch of time. It carves out a unique niche for them, where the negativity of the lyrics are not as clear-cut as that, and can lead to a positive change of mind. On the whole, I think this is a lovely little track. Subtle and nocturnal, it’s a deliberately puzzling at-times, but satisfying sound to start exploring.

  • Pictured: Sarah Downie (Lead Vocals/Keyboard/Synths), Charlie Henderson (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) & Jonny Gilbert (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2020) (Photo via Twitter.com)

That’s all for now – but the clock marks for a cue point for ‘New Album Release Friday’ tomorrow as we explore one of the weekend’s new full-length album releases. It seems fairly crowded this week, but I’ve settled on the new release from a Celtic Punk staple from Massachusetts who have pulled in a festive appearance on the blog before, and one of their more well-known tracks was used in the 2006 Martin Scorsese film ‘The Departed’ which starred Matt Damon and Vera Farmiga. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: The Offspring – “Want You Bad”

March 21, 2021 — Leave a comment

What do you call the successor of a royal’s bed? An heir mattress! It’s Scuzz Sunday…

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Conspiracy Of One” (Released on November 14, 2000) (via Columbia Records)

Apologies for that terrible pun – but I REALLY could not think of anything else to put there! It’s hard, you know? I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s my self-imposed duty to publish your new weekly entry to the Scuzz Sundays feature – where we rediscover a Pop-Punk or Nu-Metal classic from between the Emo scene of the late-90’s until the mid-00’s to see if they can hold up to quality. After all, it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Cornerstones of my childhood phase – California-bred Pop/Rock band The Offspring are back – with their first new album in nine years, ‘Let The Bad Times Roll’, set for release on 16th April via Concord Records. To coincide with the announcement of their surprise tenth studio album, which is being co-produced with Bob Rock (The Tragically Hip, David Lee Roth, Ron Sexsmith), which actually pricks my ears up a little bit, we are going to revisit ‘Want You Bad’ this week – which was released back in 2000 on their sixth and arguably most popular studio album titled ‘Conspiracy Of One’. This track was released back in the band’s heyday, after their sophomore LP – ‘Smash’ – had sold over eleven million copies worldwide, which was staggering for an independent label release. This led to the band’s signing with major label, Columbia Records, and they continued to receive strong sales in the form of Gold certifications and acclaim from the critics since. ‘Want You Bad’ is actually a play on words, where the narrator of the lyrics is saying to his girlfriend that he wants her ‘to be bad’ in a Dominatrix way. You probably couldn’t get away with it now – but this is Scuzz TV music, and the times would have been very different back then. This reached #15 in the UK Singles Chart. Let’s take a listen below.

One rather interesting fact about ‘Conspiracy Of One’ is that it’s release was fueled by The Offspring’s support for peer-to-peer file sharing. For instance, Bryan Holland – the band’s lead – endorsed the practice because he claimed that it would not hurt album sales. As you may guess, Columbia Records was irate about this, threatening to sue their own band for their intentions to release this album directly on their website before it was available in the shops, and so the group reverted back to the traditional physical release strategy. It still reportedly sold around 125k copies in it’s first week, though, reaching the #9 spot on the US Billboard 200, and so the debate could still be made, with streams playing a vital role in consumption today. As for ‘Want You Bad’ itself though, I reckon this single is a little more driven for casual radio airplay than the band’s rebellious personality may let on. Built on a thread of Power-Pop guitar chords and memorable hooks, easy-to-sing-along lyrics like “Your one vice, is you’re too nice, Come around now, can’t you see?” and “I know your arms are open wide, But you’re a little on the straight side, I can’t lie” evoking a jovial Skate Punk vibe. The chorus is built on similar rhymes, with the sharp vocals of “Complete me, Mistreat me, Want you to be Bad” and “Complicated, X-rated, I want you really bad” permeating through the fast instrumentation and the upbeat melodies. The melodic style feels a little at odds with the darker connotations behind the songwriting, where a darker tone could have benefited the track a little more for me. It sounds a lot like the music that Busted and Blink-182 were making around the time, and there’s not much to say about it lyrically, and so I ultimately think the band did “Sell Out” a bit here. That said, I think there are still things to like about the track. The quick pacing works in it’s favours, the lyrics don’t divulge into some teen Porn-like comedy (akin to the awful Bloodhound Gang) that it could have easily self-indulged itself into, and I think the hooks are relatively fun too. Overall, I think that I can still see why the track appealed to the masses, although I just wanted it to be slightly better than it was. I look forward to seeing how band have matured in the gap to their new album though.

  • Pictured: Dexter Holland (Lead Vocals), Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Todd Morse (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Pete Parada (Drums/Percussion) (in 2012) (via PR)

There’s no denying that The Offspring were one of the most commercially successful projects from the Scuzz TV video era, and this isn’t the first time that the Californian mainstream mega-stars have appeared on our Scuzz Sundays list of throwbacks – and you can still check out my retrospective thoughts on ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/01/12/scuzz-sundays-the-offspring-the-kids-arent-alright/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Americana” (LP) (November 1998) (Via Columbia Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post – but that’s all that I’ve got time for right now! Please join me again tomorrow, however, for an in-depth look at some brand new music from an emerging Dream-Rock band who are based in South London who self-released their debut EP collection over the past weekend. Originally hailing from Buckinghamshire, the 4-piece group have gained solid support from publications such as Gigwise, Under The Radar and Notion, and BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Shaun Keaveny is a big fan too. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Marilyn Manson – “The Fight Song”

March 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

Let us take a walk on the wild – or, possibly, more like weird? – side. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Marilyn Manson (2017) (Photo Credit: Mauricio Santana/Getty Images/EW.com)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, writing from Stoke-On-Trent once again, and it’s time for our weekly blast from the past, as we re-evaluate one of the Pop-Punk classics from the Emo era around the late-1990’s through to the mid-2000’s, to see whether they can hold up to value among modern quality standards. Juxtaposing the names of golden age film star Marilyn Monroe and cult leader Charles Manson (two very different American cultural icons) for his stage alias and band, Ohio-based rock star Marilyn Manson always came across as more ‘Goth’ than ‘Emo’ to me, with politically charged music that points fingers at the American political systems and gun violence issues. In fact, he used to really freak me out as a child. However, he’s still one of the biggest artists from the era, with a large wave of multi-platinum and gold selling albums coming along with his wave of controversy. I know that Marilyn has been in the news recently, for the wrong reasons, and so I originally delayed this post after planning to do it for the Royal Rumble Sunday, solely because the title of ‘The Fight Song’ really fits the theme for the big multi-man match. So, I’m just going to judge the track purely for it’s quality to avoid sensitive material. ‘The Fight Song’ was released back in 2000 on his fourth studio LP, ‘Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death)’, which was a Rock-Opera concept album with an Industrial metal style and Glam Rock-influenced production akin to some of Manson’s earlier work. It had it’s share of controversy, no suprise there, but it’s still seen by publications like Kerrang! as some of his best work, who commented in 2010: “[It is] still scathingly relevant [and] a credit to a man who refused to sit and take it, but instead come out swinging.” for a retrospective. Let’s take the brass knuckles of ‘The Fight Song’ below.

Urgh… There’s something about that dude. Unsettling. Most recently, he’s been dabbling his paintbrush in a little bit of Art work, completing an art exhibition in 2017 of 20 paintings which he called ‘Genealogies of Pain’ with the famously off-his-rockers film director, David Lynch, which took place at the Kuntshalle gallery in Vienna. For ‘The Fight Song’ specifically, Manson voices his usual complaints by titling the track as a pun of the ‘fight songs’ that US football teams use as their theme tunes. Therefore, it becomes a post-Columbine statement disparaging the college traditions of the US, and America’s fandom for football being a metaphor for the country’s glorification of violence among the youth, in the case of Manson’s opinions. The track was a decent sized hit in the UK, reaching #24 in the Singles Charts over here. Performed as a direct address to the listener as his audience, Manson voices his grindings with bold lyrics like “Nothing suffocates you more/Than the passing of everyday human events” and “Isolation is the oxygen mask, You make your children breathe in to survive”, with heavy guitar riffs and quick drum signatures selling his feelings of anger and rage. It feels commercially suitable enough, however, with polished production and hooks like “So when we are bad, We’ll scar your minds” and “The death of one is a tragedy, The death of a million is just sadistic” that pop out a little. It’s very outspoken and direct, with a snarling vocal performance that complements the bitter qualities of the songwriting. The electric guitar riffs aren’t likely to change the world, but they keep the pace rolling at a fiery speed. The underlying themes are the use of tragic death as an exploitation for entertainment among the masses, with a couple of high-pitched wails and screams of which your mileage may vary on. Overall, although Manson is likely to always cause a share of controversy and has a very direct way of expressing his opinions that I can’t say I always agree with, I think one of the most important elements of making ‘good music’ has to be a message or expression formed within the fabric of the sound. ‘The Fight Song’ is a success in these regards, but he is just not a dude I’d want to hang out with.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Holy Wood (In The Shape Of The Valley Of Death” (2000) (via Nothing Records)

That’s all I have for you right now… Run along and have a nice day! I’ll be back at it again tomorrow, however, for an in-depth look at some brand new music from a relatively familiar face from the blog – the second entry from a Disco throwback project from a Los-Angeles based project (I’m still not 100% sure if it’s just a dude or a band, but anyways) who hosts his own podcast with new episodes releasing every Thursday. The track is a cover of a famous 60’s pop hit originally performed by Wayne Fontana. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: The Pretty Reckless (feat. Tom Morello) – “And So It Went”

March 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

…But we should never forget that God gave Rock and Roll to you! It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Death By Rock and Roll” (Released on Feb 12th, 2021) (via Fearless Records)

Good Morning to you, my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s finally time yet again for me to spruce up your mid-weekend with a new daily blog post, since it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It makes me feel quite old to think that Taylor Momsen’s Pop-Punk outfit, The Pretty Reckless, has been going for the better part of just over an entire decade now. Since the masses nodded their head to the tune of “Make Me Wanna Die” from the popular 2010 comic book action-comedy film, “Kick-Ass”, which had starred the likes of Aaron Taylor-Johnston, Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage and Christopher Mintz-Plasse – among a few other famous faces – Momsen’s band have managed to achieve streaming figures of over 10 millon now, and so naturally, I’d expect their latest material to head in a more commercial direction. “Death By Rock and Roll” is the title of their fourth studio album and this is also their first LP to be released through their new label, Fearless Records, when it saw the light of day last month. The new album features guest appearances from Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron, as well as the very prolific Violinist Lindsey Stirling, but I’d argue the most notable of which comes from the mega-famous Rage Against The Machine guitarist, Tom Morello, who delivers a charging guitar solo on the last single, “And So It Went”. Let’s check it out right below.

Centred around the key themes of political protests and censorship rights, Momsen describes the songwriting process and the backing band-oriented production of the latest record as a new body of work designed “To celebrate the power of speaking out in order to promote a more just world” in her press notes for this release, and more guests, such as Within Temptation’s Sharon Den Adel, have jumped on-board to establish more of a collaborative enterprise for the track listing to pull from, in order to convey this sense of making difference through togetherness, and challenging social norms with a combined display of unity. Of course, “And So It Went” is a melodically driven Pop-Rock track at most, with Momsen delivering lines like “And so it went, the children lost their minds” and “Begging for forgiveness was such a waste of time” above the typically rousing and quickly building pace of the guitar-oriented instrumentation that builds from the back of an atmospheric, dark synth riff in the opening. The bridge is sharp and sounds bitter, with Momsen crooning: “They said the world does not belong to you, You are not the king, I am not the fool” as the bass guitars chug along and the lyrics build to a stadium sing-along anthem with heavy chords and loud vocals. The track reaches a slow breakdown towards the end of the track, with lines like “With all these eyes upon us, but no one seems to see/That you and me are just the same as God meant it to be” permeating over a lighter keyboard melody. It’s just a temporary interlude, however, as we reach the ever-impressive guitar solo from Tom Morello, before Momsen brings things to a close with the chant-led chorus. It’s a track that goes for a very anthemic feel, and for the most part, I feel that it succeeds. There are enough callbacks to their sound in the past to show a progression of their artistry, and I think both the vocals and the instrumentals work quite well to suit their purpose of giving the track it’s urgency. I have a few nitpicks with it, such as the structure feeling very conventional towards the modern Pop song format and the track remains in the safe establishment of the Pop-Punk wheelhouse for the most part, but there is a nice message behind the track and it gives the fans what they probably came for, if not much else. It does sound rather commercial, but it is still decently inspired. It’s nothing that special, but overall, I think it’s perfectly fine.

  • Pictured: Taylor Momsen (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Ben Phillips (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Mark Damon (Bass Guitar) and Jamie Perkins (Drums/Percussion) (2016) (Photo by Andrew Lipovsky)

Well, that one was a bit of a “Scuzz Sundays” tune – wasn’t it? Of course, you can join me for the real thing tomorrow, as we take a stroll down the memory lane of Emo-Rock and Pop-Punk releases from the late-90’s to the mid-00’s. Our next entry in the series is a track that peaked at #25 on the Alternative Airplay chart and #15 on the Mainstream Rock Charts in the US – coming from a Memphis-based Grunge band whose debut album was released on the Rockingchair Records label, which was newly set up at the time by Mark Yoshida and Ruth Thompson-Bernabe. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/