Emo-Pop

Scuzz Sundays: HIM – “Buried Alive By Love”

February 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

It’s the day of St. Valentine, and for raising awareness of singledom. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Love Metal” (LP) (Released on May 5th, 2003) (via BMG Music Group)

Happy Valentine’s Day – even if I don’t celebrate it. The truth hurts – but my truth is that it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It’s time for a new entry in our Scuzz Sundays series – where we revisit a classic from the Emo-Rock and Pop-Punk era’s of the late-90’s through to the mid-00’s, to see if there’s still quality to be found within them in the new age. This week’s pick is loosely based around today’s minor holiday, even though I would moan and complain that I’m a firm believer that, if you love someone, you should do things to show that EVERYDAY, and not just a one-off Sunday in February. Load of nonsense. Anyway, now I digress. HIM were a very successful Nu-Metal band in the 90’s who originated from Finland. “Love Metal” was probably their best-known record, but “Razorblade Romance” achieved platinum album sales, and “Deep Shadows and Brilliant Heights” reached the top ten of the album charts in several countries too, with each of the recordings getting strong sales and decent reviews particularly in European territories. They had a few ups-and-down’s in the way of reunions and lineup changes, but they officially remained active until 2017 in some capacity, where they finished off their farewell tour with a final set on New Year’s Day at the Helldone festival. Even now, the group remains to be one of the most commercially successful Finnish metal bands of all time, and they have also won eight Emma Awards. “Buried Alive By Love” was the second single from their fourth LP, “Love Metal”, and it reached #30 in the UK Singles Chart in 2003. Let’s fully cremate our fears with the track below.

Interestingly enough – the character who you see in the old-fashioned music video was played by actress and singer Juliette Lewis, who was one of Hollywood’s “It” girls in the 90’s, and Lewis played the role of Mrs. Audrey Griswald in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in 1989. If that wasn’t enough, the video was also directed by Bam Margera of Jacksass fame, who also produced the official videos for another single, “The Sacrament”, from the same album. The pacing is fast and the guitar melodies are sharp from the very offset, with a hazy line of synth beats drowning out the distorted guitars when the opening verse comes in. Vocalist Ville Vallo sings about love being a source of rescue for a dark path that our narrator is treading down, as he recites the likes of “To cry is to know that you’re alive, But my river of tears has run dry” and “The kiss of vanity blessed me with a spiritual murder, And fed the gods of war insatiable” over the top of crisp drum beats and the strongly hook-based bridges of the track. The chorus has a sweeping and choral quality, with Vallo singing lines like “A cold heart is a dead heart, and it feels like I’ve been buried alive by love” and “If I wake before I die, rescue me with your smile” above the seemingly endless riffing of the bass guitar chords and the reliance on the drums to complement Vallo’s cinematic, wide-eyed vocals. The samples and the synths are a second thought, and the sudden changes in mood sell a very anthemic style. There’s a lot of production value here, and it’s clear that quite a sum of cash was raked in to make this project. That said, the songwriting is fine – if not defying many tropes or conventions of the genre – since there’s still smooth transitions between each section, and the large pop hooks of the chorus are left to have a nice impact. Though it does sound pretty commercial, the vocal performance is decent and I can picture the track being used in a geeky action video game-like flick such as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Overall, it’s not unentertaining or unenjoyable, although it’s not the most organic sounding track that you’d probably hear all week. It is decent, however, with good effort put into the production of the track and a solid vocal performance from Vallo to complement the fast instrumentation. Quite generic, but there’s enough talent to make it worthwhile.

  • Pictured: Ville Vallo (Lead Vocals), Mikko Paananen (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Miiko Lindstrom (Rhythm Guitar), Janne Puurtinen (Keyboard) & Jukka Kroger (Drums) (2017) (Photo via LOUDER)

That’s all for now – I hope you have an enjoyable Sunday in whichever way that you choose to spend it. We’ll be kicking off a new week’s worth of posts on the blog tomorrow – starting off with an in-depth look at a Canadian R&B project who shares his name with a type of environmentally friendly bread – albeit a different spelling – and was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize in 2013 for their debut album released via Innovative Leisure. 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: Ela Minus – “They Told Us It Was Hard, But They Were Wrong”

February 9, 2021 — Leave a comment

A fresh discovery – ready for you to give either a Plus or a ‘Minus’. Time for a new post.

  • Pictured: Ela Minus at Moogfest in Durham, North Carolina (2019) (Photo via Novationmusic.com)

Good Morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up on the blog for your daily track because, as I’m constantly reminding you, it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Ela Minus is a name that previously eluded me for a while, as I had sifted through sparklers of her material through some support on BBC Radio 6Music and through some bits-and-pieces sent to me by my cohorts from the Student Music Network over the past few months, but it was when I saw her fantastic live performance for KEXP’s Live At Home series that my ears finally paid her the notice she deserved. Currently based in Brooklyn – but born and raised in Bogotá, Columbia – this Techno wizard fell in love with the drums when she attended the Berklee College Of Music when she was 18. Her debut album, “Acts Of Rebellion” was released in late October by Domino Recordings – the same label where you will find more familiar names like Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip and Anna Calvi. The 10-track LP received positive reviews, and she cements herself as an effective One-Woman orchestra with a love for exploring Witch-House, Techno, Art Rock and Dream Pop. She also uses the slogan of “Bright Music For Dark Times” to describe her own style, and it is ironic because her music sounds generally pretty moody despite the twinkling keyboards. “They Told Us It Was Hard, But They Were Wrong” is my favourite track of her’s. Check it out below.

Her real name is Gabriela Jimino – and in an ideal world, she would have supported Caribou on tour and then played a euphoric live set at the gigantic Coachella festival last summer, but we all know how that plan turned out. Nonetheless, she summed up her music in an interview with WODJ Magazine, by saying that her overall message of her work is that “I want to give people an alternative. An alternative to everything, another path, another way forward” within her textures. She is as much of a hardware tinkerer as an educated composer, and each of Minus’ mantras feel precisely reflected in the above track. Set off by slowly bubbling sequences that lead into stroking Synth blips, Minus’ voice flows into the chilling grooves created by the Staccato synths and the sonar-like pulse of the airy, gently breathing chord progression. It never quite feels like club music by the direct opening, but the pacing of the sequences gradually intensify and the Drums work in tandem with a provocative Keyboard riff to create a more cooling atmosphere to the darker tones in the towering synth beat. The vocals, meanwhile, create a moodier variation of tones where refrains like “We always know in the first minute or so/If something’s worth staying for” and “If you have to go to the bottom of a hole, To find what’s wrong, just let it go” feel as though they are mildly provoking a resistance. The sequences are broken up by a slower bridge, where Minus’ half-spoken and half-sung voice adds further intrigue. It takes a little while for a big beat to drop, but when it does, it’s paired with an oddly motivational set of lyrics, and the crescendo of the built synths release the tension with a more rhythmic undertone, where looping sonics and meandering keys riff on the more hopeful ambience. What I really love about this track is that there’s a real spirit of DIY Post Punk hidden in the execution though it bears no resemblance to the shouting and guitars of that genre. It really gradually becomes about freedom and independence, and defiance against the corporate. I love to picture this being played at some artsy elaborate French fashion show of modern art, but it also sounds like it could be directly taken from a high-budget Spy flick or a John Wick-like action sequence. It draws on the cinematc, while keeping the underground roots of the ideas intact, sounding like Billie Eilish goes Kraftwerk in the provoctive textures. The underlying theme of her music is an idea that resistance grows from everyday practices, and this feels harsh yet inspired. This is phenomenal and she’s going to do remarkable things.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Acts Of Rebellion” (LP) (Released on October 23, 2020) (via Domino Records)

There’s enough rave-reviewing from me for today! Yet, we’re shifting away from the relatively new releases to the comparatively vintage offerings tomorrow as the “Way Back Wednesdays” series once again takes the floor. In tomorrow’s new entry to the growing library of the feature, we’re going to take a detour back in to 1999 for an in-depth listen back to what is presumed to be the first-ever recording put out by one of Warp Records’ highly prolific electronic dance music producers – Who used to previously self-release his own material for his very own independent label which he famously named “Mute Recordings”. 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/

Way Back Wednesdays: Visage – “Fade To Grey”

January 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

A melancholic classic from a band who you could say were… Strange. New post time!

  • Pictured: Steve Strange (Lead Vocals/Producer/Writer), Steve Barnacle (Bass Guitar), Robin Simon (Rhythm Guitar/Synths) and Lauren Duvall (Backing Vocals) (in 2013) (Photo Credit: David Levine)

Good Morning to you – My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for a brand new installment of our weekly Way Back Wednesdays feature, where we recover a gem that holds up today, yet pre-dated the 2000’s. This is just the second edition of the feature, and so if you could give me a like and a follow, I would really appreciate it – because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! “Fade To Grey” was released way back in 1980 by the English Synthpop act Visage, via Polydor Records, and it’s still one of the few Non-Pet Shop Boys or Non-Erasure 80’s Synth-Dance tracks to have really survived in the mainstream public’s conscience since that era of futuristic Pop and Kraftwerk-inspired Electronica. Although it failed to make too much of an impression the first time around, it became much more popular when it was re-released in 1991, a time which saw it reach #8 on the UK Singles Chart. As well as making a huge impact for the group in the 80’s LGBT culture, it saw extended success on the European club circuit, reaching #1 in Germany and Switzerland. Steve Strange was the lead vocalist, who kept the act going until 2015, where he tragically passed away from a heart attack. Looking upwards, Visage were significant to the blossoming New Romantic fashion movement, which I wish that I was born to see, during the 1980’s. On “Fade To Black”, Strange wrote the lyrics, while the French vocal sections were written and composed by Rusty Egan’s Belgian love interest – Brigitte Arens. You could still check out the original music video below.

“Fade To Grey” was certified as Silver in UK sales in 1981, and the music video was particularly significant for another key reason, in that it was one of the first music videos to be directed by the team of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who went on to direct very famous videos for The Police, Duran Duran, Herbie Hancock, Ultravox, Yes, and several others of 80’s fame in popular culture. It starts off as soft and gentle, before a sweeping Synth line and French backing vocals set the scene. Strange croons: “One man on a lonely platform, One case sitting by his side, Two eyes staring cold and silent, Shows fear as he turns to hide” on top of off-kilter keyboard keys, and the repeating Synth groove. The electronic beats feel flat in a sense, heavily inspired by the technological views of Kraftwerk and David Bowie as a potentially tyrannical force. The lyrics of the refrain, where Strange sings: “We fade to grey”, create a fairly uneasy atmosphere, whilst the verses play on introversion and Gothic themes. The mood is enigmatic and hostile, yet it’s sold with the calm tones of it’s cinematic quality. The synth instrumentation is cerebral, yet melodic enough for the Post-Disco sounds and the industrial pop elements to create a danceable atmosphere. Although I can’t understand the French vocal interludes because I’m a roast beef dinner, as the Frenchfolk may say, they add a suited sophistication to the methodical, artsy style. Pretentious in the best way, I still feel that the track manages to sound contemporary and futuristic. The Synth riff is iconic, and the detailed production goes a long step in the way of exuding an atmosphere to fill a dim-lit dancefloor with mascara-running teens. Yet, it’s exotic. For a minute, it feels like the gloom of the AI-age future to come.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Visage” (Self-Titled LP) (Released in 1980) (via Polydor Records)

That’s all for today! I’ll be back again tomorrow, and wouldn’t you know it, I have finally got some brand new music to share with you. Tomorrow’s track comes from a Hertfordshire-based English indie folk trio of three sisters who began their musical journey by performing together at open mic nights in Watford hosted by their local pub, and they were scheduled to perform a live set at Glastonbury festival last year before, well, you know what, to mark the end of a four-year hiatus. 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: Blink-182 – “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas”

December 20, 2020 — 1 Comment

They are just interested in All The Small Things – nothing too big. It’s Scuzz Sunday…

  • Pictured: Mark Hoppus (Vocals/Bass Guitar), Travis Barker (Drums) and Matt Skiba (Lead Guitar) (2019) (Photo Credit: Noam Galai/Getty Images)

You know what Day it is – but then I just told you, didn’t I? I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it’s time for a Christmas edition of our weekly Scuzz Sundays feature, where we take a look back at one of the ghosts of Emo-Rock and Pop-Punk past, first released between the late-1990’s and the mid-2000’s, to see how it holds up today! Well, if there was ever a time where the whole British public – and our friends across the globe – needed cheering up, it’s now. I’m going to try my best to do exactly that with this – “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas” from Blink-182. Following yesterday’s news in the UK, the title of the track feels like it’s weirdly taken on another context now, which is bizarrely fitting of our living situation since I’d chosen it about a week ago now. Nevertheless, originally, it was titled as a parody of “I Will Be Home For Christmas”, the vintage Walter Kent and Kim Gannon classic. It was released in 2001 by the US Pop-Punk megastars Blink-182, but you can also find it on their “Greatest Hits” compilation LP. I’ve yet to do a Scuzz Sundays post on Blink-182, which is a little strange considering how they were cornerstones of the era, but then, I wasn’t ever really that keen on them, to be honest. This single was a huge commercial success for them, however, and it became the band’s biggest hit in Canada, reaching the #1 spot on the charts there. Fill up your stocking with ‘I Won’t Be Home For Christmas’ below.

This was originally recorded in 1997 as a Radio Promo/Jingle – and Alex Robert Ross, of Vice.com, described it as “It is the Family guy of Christmas songs, the New Jersey boardwalk T-shirt of Holiday jams, the gurning, half-stoned brat of Yuletide anti-merriment”, and, even though it usually takes me some convincing to agree with the critics at most times, I think he’s got it pretty spot-on there. A cacophony of toilet humor, penis jokes, American loathing, and Power-Pop guitar chords, make for a prodigal mixture of Tinsel Torment. The vocalist, Mark Hoppus, exclaims: “Outside the Carolers start to sing/I can’t describe the joy they bring/’Cause Joy is something they don’t bring me” in the opening verse, to show a spot of Sass, and later sings: “Well, I guess it’s not cool to freak on Christmas Eve/’Cause the Cops came and arrested me/They had an unfair advantage” in a heavier second chorus. The song structure is a fairly conventional pop one, but the very “Indie”-sounding bass guitar riffs are adorned with ringing Church bells and percussive little Sleigh bell melodies to sell the rather brash frustration of our lead narrator. The chorus plays out with: “It’s Christmas time again/It’s time to be nice to the people you can’t stand all year/I’m growing tired of all this Christmas cheer” above the frantically paced blend of Pop-driven lyricism and the Skate-Punk driven guitar instrumentation. The vocals are admittedly just a bit rough around the edges, but the chorus is perfectly fine, because the overall sound is a fairly catchy and enjoyable one. The lyrics stumble down that fine path between teen rebel and sociopath a little, but the vocal delivery is quite sharp, and I found the Grinch-esque little rhymes to be mildly amusing. This is not a masterpiece, but I enjoyed it. It doesn’t sound too outdated on most accounts – and it fits our times. Before we raise our spirits again, let’s wallow in the sadness a little first.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “I Won’t Be Home For Christmas” (Released on Oct 16, 2001) (via MCA Records)

Thank you for reading my latest blog post – and hang in there! Join me again tomorrow as we take our minds off the season for a bit of California love from a Swedish Experimental Electronic music composer who really dares to be different, with the title track from an album which he released back in September. He’s set to play Club shows, in Sydney and Adelaide, over in Australia, in March next year. 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: Dent May – “I’ll Be Stoned For Christmas”

December 16, 2020 — Leave a comment

Fair enough. It’s been a pretty tough year, after àll. It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Dent May recording music in his home studio (in 2017) (Photo via WeirdoMusicForever.com)

Good Afternoon! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get writing up about your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to get writing up about a different piece of music every day! Truth be told – I’m writing this on my smartphone toay because my laptop charger decided to cop out yesterday, and so I naturally fiddled around with it to try and fix it until my battery went flat, so you may have to bear with me, if the format isn’t quire right today, but that’s not going to stop me from sharing more Alternative festive music with you as Christmas time quickly approaches. “I’ll Be Stoned For Christmas” is a modern, red-eyed take on the seasonal ballad “I Will Be Home For Christmas” that comes from Dent May, a Los-Angeles based singer-songwriter signed to Carpark Records – where you’ll also find Toro Y Moi, The Beths and Skylar Spence. He loves to explore Psych-Pop, Prog-Rock, New Wave and Indie Folk tones in his music, and he started out his music career as a member of The Rockwells – a Power-Pop group from Missisipi. May’s most recent album is “Late Checkout” – which he released in August this year. The Christmas track, however, is six years old now – releasing on his Cat Purring self-release label – back in 2014. Let’s check out the festive music video for the track – which was directed by Robbie Hillyer Barnett – down below.

“I’ll Be Stoned For Christmas” was released on December 12th of that year, “Just in time to soundtrack your own disillusionment with Christmas week”, according to a press release from May, at the time of it’s release. It seems to be that May was a little ahead of the ball game of the current “Bedroom Pop” trend of indie music at the time, as he mixes the excitement of coming home to his family for Christmas with the mental isolation that could sometimes string along with that. May sings on about visiting his childhood friends over the top of an 80’s-influenced Synth bed which adds a hint of melancholy to the soft, Acoustic guitar strums. He later sings, above a slightly off-kilter Soprano production tool, “I’ve been chilling with my parents, they’re driving me mad, So I’m trying to get lifted with you now” and “We roll up my Cousin’s stash, and go wild at the party, yeah, we’re having a blast” to convey the slacker Rock sensibilities that come with the mild Psychedelic electronic loops. The chorus is a slightly less downbeat affair, as May adds a gently propulsive Guitar and Drums combo to the vocals, as he chants “I’ll Be Stoned For Christmas, this year” above the Psych-Folk mixture of sounds, before adding an “I’m sorry, Momma” for good measure. The hook feels heavily inspired by Mac DeMarco, as a mid-tempo Psychedelia adds some emotive lyricism to the noticeable Folk inflictions. It isn’t a bad thing though, as it’s still a decent sound that conveys May’s range of emotions pretty nicely, despite obvious similarities, as it’s also encalsulated under the same genre umbrella. In any case, May will be getting stoned for Christmas and, in a year of some absolute turmoil, I have a feeling that he will not be the only one this year.

  • Pictured: Dent May in a promotional shoot for “Across The Multiverse” (2017) (Photo via Tidal.com)

Thank you very much for checking out my latest blog post – and for bearing with me for today! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, for an in-depth look at another Alternative festive tune – This time from a legendary Japanese D.I.Y. Post-Punk female group who once used to perform as The Osaka Ramones – a tribute band to The Ramones. 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: Paramore – “Misery Business”

November 22, 2020 — Leave a comment

Let’s see if this one still leaves us wanting more, more, Para-More! It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Riot!” (Album/LP) (Released on June 12th, 2007) (via Fueled By Ramen)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and we’ve reached the time of the week where I dig out an ancient gem of the Pop-Punk and Emo-Rock boom of the late-1990’s through to the mid-2000’s, to see whether they can hold up to value and quality in our more modern times. Led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Hayley Williams, Paramore is a Tennessee-based Pop-Punk band who fall on the latter end of the time spectrum, who usually get compared to the sounds of No Doubt, Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne. I can remember how the band broke into the mainstream particularly easily, with hit singles in the charts like “The Only Exception”, “Crushcrushcrush” and “That’s What You Get”, all three of which have been certified platinum, across the UK and the US sales. In recent times, the band – although going through line-up changes – have undertaken a really mainstream Pop sound with “Hard Times” and “Still Into You”, but the band are currently working on a sixth album release, which they said will go back to exploring their more Punk-skewing roots. In recent years, Hayley Williams has been embarking on a well-received solo career, having become a frequent collaborator with B.O.B. and CHVRCHES. “Misery Business” is the lead single for “Riot!”, Paramore’s commercially successful second album – and it got to #17 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming their first single to hit the charts in the UK. It’s time for a throwback! Let’s watch the music video to “Misery Business” below.

The musical influences behind “Misery Business” – I think you could say – are pretty abundant and blatant. For one thing, the cover artwork for the “Riot” album clearly resembles the cover art of No Doubt’s “Rock Steady”, just to give you an indication of it Interestingly enough, however, Williams has decided that, as of March 2020, Paramore won’t play the track anymore at live shows because she feels the lyrics are controversial and she does not relate to them anymore. She is talking about the second verse, which goes: “Once a w***e, you’re nothing more, I’m sorry, that will never change” in a light of more feminist views, so it makes it intriguing for us to re-evaluate in our day of current affairs. I have noticed that the Pop-Punk era of Scuzz TV has often bordered on the misogynistic, and it’s healthy that artists are now looking back on this, in a self-reflective light. Honestly, I don’t think the s**t-shaming lyrics on “Misery Business” aren’t really that noticeable, and that’s because the pacing is very quick and you’re too focused on the guitar work instead, but it’s clear. Williams sings: “Whoa, I never meant to brag, But I got him where I want him now” as she relieves a breath of teenage angst on taking a boyfriend away from another girl. It feels very emo, and driven by big pop hooks. The verses are a little more Baroque-Pop driven, as Williams speedily recites Goth-oriented lines, on top of a bubbling bass guitar riffs. A bridge is placed towards the end, where the instrumentation is slowed in the mathematical “record label hit” which builds up to the sharp guitar solo, and a final repeat of the verse. Honestly, I’m not too keen on the track since I feel that it follows the typical commercial Pop single formula really closely and it feels derivative as a result – sounding too much like Avril Lavigne and No Doubt instead of sounding inspired by them. The guitar riffs are dowsed in fuzzing Pop instrumentation and the vocals are fairly strong actually, so I can see why it was a big hit, but it feels like they – or the label – were clearly trying hard to make it a hit. It’s easy to see the appeal, however, because it’s very accessible and feels produced. The lyrics seem to be very dated, but it’s really admirable that Williams has taken an honest approach with these in retrospect. Overall, it’s nothing that grips me, but I could see why it was very successful because it has been produced that way. I always think that a band should never just try to have a hit because – why would you want to just sound like someone else? Don’t be the next No Doubt – be the first “you” – that’s my advice. Sadly, this is the crucial point, in which, the powers that be clearly overlook – now more than ever.

  • Pictured: Hayley Williams (Lead Vocals/Acoustic Guitar/Keyboard), Josh Farro (Lead Guitar), Taylor York (Bass Guitar) and Zac Farro (Drums/Occasional Backing Vocals) (in 2007) (Photo via Billboard.com)

Thank you for reading this week’s Scuzz Sunday throwback! This was a fun one – and I hope that you enjoyed reading it half as much as I liked writing it. If so, why not check back in with me tomorrow? I’ll be taking a look at a fun new Jazz track with about 7 different musicians on the credit…The main two being a Canadian hip-hop lyricist/electronic music producer duo – who are currently signed up to B*****d Jazz Recordings. Their sounds have been endorsed by the likes of Kaytranada, Nightmares On Wax and Phife Dawg. 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 Bloodhound Gang – “The Ballad Of Chasey Lain”

November 17, 2020 — Leave a comment

Well…Here we are again! It really is a Dog Eat Dog world out there! It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Jimmy Pop (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Jared Hasslehoff (Bass Guitar/ Vocals), DJ Q-Ball (Keyboards/Synths/Turntables), Daniel P. Carter (Lead Guitar) & The Yin (Drums) (2015) (WeGow.com)
    Pictured: Jimmy Pop (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Jared Hasslehoff (Bass Guitar/ Vocals), DJ Q-Ball (Keyboards/Synths/Turntables), Daniel P. Carter (Lead Guitar) & The Yin (Drums) (2015) (WeGow.com)

There goes your Sunday! Greetings to you, I am Jacob Braybrooke and it’s time for another weekly installment in our Scuzz Sundays series, where we take a listen back to an Emo-Rock or Pop-Punk relic released between the late-90’s and the mid-00’s, to see if they hold on to value and quality in our current times! We previously covered “The Bad Touch” in our series, and it’s a song that everybody is familiar with (Never Again!). However, generally, the public don’t seem to be very aware of their other material, but the band have actually been quite successful, commercially speaking, with sales of 6 million copies of their albums worldwide, and a particularly decent following in European territories. Today – that changes – as we take a listen to “The Ballad Of Chasey Lain” in retrospect. Much like their biggest hit, this track was released as a single from their debut album, “Hooray For Boobies” (Yeah….Seriously), which was released in 1999. The track was re-released as a single in 2000, with the single’s title alluding to Jimmy Pop (Yes, that is really the alias of the lead vocalist) seeing Chasey Lain, a pornographic film actress, in a clothing shop advertisement. He commented “No” when he was questioned if the infatuation was real…and this was an interview with BBC. This reached #15 in the UK Singles Chart. Let’s listen in below.

Of all places, the track has been frequently used as the bumper music for a lucrative US Texas-situated radio station, KRBE. Along with this, Jimmy Pop has confirmed in his interviews over the years that the core melody for the track was sampled from “Sea Of Sin” by Depeche Mode, of all bands. Writing from the viewpoint of a mock stalker, Pop recites lines like: “I just wanted to ask/Could I eat your a**?” and “You’ve had a lot of d**k Chasey, but you ain’t had mine” over the top of a jangled, heavy guitar riff and a harsh bass guitar riff. You’ve probably noticed – this is just incredibly, undeniably silly music, but I think that it’s important to remember that Bloodhound Gang have always been a Novelty group, and you’re not really supposed to take them seriously as a sub-contemporary piece of music. That doesn’t mean it’s really any good, though. Lines like “Now, show ’em them t***ies” and, in the end, “Would ya f**k me, for blow?” feel tired and ware very thin by the end, although I think the monotone delivery that Pop uses is quite amusing. This is much less Rap-Rock driven than a lot of their other work, with a skewed Punk instrumental giving off a low-fidelity Folk-Blues idiom instead. The lyrics are about the lowest common denominator nonsense you would expect, as a harsh and crude set of lines like “How could I ever eat your a**, when you treat, your biggest fan like that?” and “You’ve had a lotta d**k/I’ve had a lotta time” get repetitive and lose any charm they had, before you gradually get to the end-point of the track when you realise that you’ve just wasted 3 minutes of your life – I’m sorry for wasting yours. It’s a shame that Pop isn’t using enough variation to keep things, at least, mildly catchy here, as the Punk-Folk mismatch of instrumentation is more interesting. For what it’s worth though, it’s crap.

  • Pictured: "No reason to live but we like it that way" - Bloodhound Gang (2017) (Photo via Reddit.com)
    Pictured: “No reason to live but we like it that way” – Bloodhound Gang (2017) (Photo via Reddit.com)

I’m not sure why you really would, but if you must – You can read up on my thoughts of “The Bad Touch”, of which we already covered as part of our 1st Anniversary Special of our long-running Scuzz Sundays weekly feature on the blog, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/08/23/scuzz-sundays-1st-anniversary-special-the-bloodhound-gang-the-bad-touch/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Hooray For Boobies” (Released on October 4th, 1999) (via Geffen Records)
    Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Hooray For Boobies” (Released on October 4th, 1999) (via Geffen Records)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! As always, I’ll be back at it all again tomorrow, as I hope to aid you through the daily grind again. We’ll be taking an in-depth look at the big return track from a UK hip-hop rapper, songwriter, lyricist and poet who previously appeared on a few episodes of Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox with his mother – Jean Coyle-Larner. 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: Sum 41 – “Fat Lip”

October 25, 2020 — Leave a comment

The sum of all it’s parts, or fractioned off as a mere shell of it’s past? It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “All Killer No Filler” (Released on May 8th, 2001) (via Island Records)

Here we are again… My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to deliver your new weekly entry for our year-long Scuzz Sundays feature, where we take a look back at a Pop-Punk or Emo-Rock hit from the late-1990’s up until the mid-2000’s, to see if it can still hold up to it’s value in our modern times! Sum 41 are a Canadian Pop-Punk band, originally from Ontario, who I still remember as being particularly relevant, at least commercially, during the Scuzz TV era, after the group had been signed up to an international record deal with Island Records, a Universal Music-owned imprint, which was also the home of the era’s pioneering Rock acts Weezer, The Cranberries and The Kilers. The band’s original name was Kaspir. Contrary to the popular belief, Sum 41’s most commercially successful is not “In Too Deep” (The one with the famous Diving-themed music video), and it is actually “Fat Lip”, which was the prior single to this, and it was also the lead single from their debut studio LP, “All Killer No Filler”, which was released back in May of 2001. The track took the top spot on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and it also reached the #8 spot on the UK Singles Chart. The track is still the band’s most commercially successful single release to date, and it left it’s mark on popular culture as it’s been prominently featured on Guitar Hero, NHL 2002 and Smallville. The album was a huge success too, despite negative reviews from critics, although this has led to some more positive acclaim in retrospect, following the years that have since passed by. Let’s revisit “Fat Lip” below.

The band turned to commercially well-known producer Jerry Finn (Blink-182, Morrissey, Green Day) to help them whip up the set list for their titular “All Killer No Filler” debut album, and the track’s title of “Fat Lip” is derived from a Canadian slang term for a swollen lip as a result of someone getting punched in the face. “Fat Lip” is neatly dressed up in a Skate-Punk and Hip-Hop hybrid production, and it sees Deryck Whibley, Dave Brownsound and Stevo Jocz share the vocal duties. A fast three minute of heavy guitar hooks, and inherent rap verses, the lyrics play on the typical themes of the time, of social entitlement and urban disenfranchisement, as Whibley sings: “I don’t want to waste my time/Become another casualty of society” in the chorus, with a quick switch to a rap verse from Brownsound and Jocz a few seconds after, with one-liners like “Attention that we crave, don’t tell us to behave” and “Heavy metal and mullets it’s how we were raised, Maiden and Priest were the gods that we praised” to reference the Metal culture that inspired the Pop-Punk genre to flourish commercially. The track is filled with safe, if heavy, bass guitar riffs and a brash, laddish mentality that seeks to embrace the cliches of the Skate-Punk music at the time. Even in the video, you can spot the Baggy Trousers and the enthusiastically Spiked-Up Hair to a rather obvious degree. I think that much of the appeal of Sum 41 at the time was how they were still just “teens” or “kids”, effectively. For that, I feel the band deserve some merit. However, the song itself…Yeah, it really doesn’t hold up. The rap verses don’t manage to create much of a Hip-Hop sensibility as they’re meshed together with the label-driven guitar pop melodicism, and it feels quite out of place, and of no real emotional impact, as a result of this. It vocally feels a bit too shouty for me, and the structure of the track sounds disjointed and jumbled due to the lack of synergy between the Skate-Punk and Street Hip-Hop elements, although I can appreciate the odd mention of a Mullet as much as the next guy, and the stereotypes of the video still does elicit a few chuckles out of me. Overall, I feel the single’s biggest crime is not that it’s offensive at all, but it’s just painfully generic. It just feels weightless in retrospect and it doesn’t stand out, if at all, much among it’s genre. I think a bit more creative freedom for the band would have given it more legs.

  • Pictured: Deryck Whibley (Lead Vocals/Multi-Instrumentalist), Dave Baksh (Lead Guitar), Jason McCaslin (Bass Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals), Tom Thacker (Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar) and Frank Zummo (Drums/Synths/Percussion) (in Oct. 2016) (Photo Credit: Jonathan Weiner/Rolling Stone)

Thank you very much for reading this week’s edition of Scuzz Sundays! You can join me again tomorrow, where I’ll be kicking off another weeks worth of blog posts with an in-depth look at the new single from an Alternative Folk 5-piece who are actually American (but I originally thought they were British until my friend corrected me a few days ago) who announced their new album the day before they released it, and they released it to coincide with the exact Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd. 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: Good Charlotte – “Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous”

October 4, 2020 — Leave a comment

I can assure you that my student lifestyle is just a tad bit healthier. It’s Scuzz Sunday…

  • Pictured: Joel Madden (Lead Vocals), Benji Madden (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Paul Thomas (Bass Guitar), Billy Martin (Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar), Dean Butterworth (Drums) (2016) (Photo by Justin Colt)

Good Afternoon! I am Jacob Braybrooke and, just like usual, I’m writing up your new weekly installment in our year-long Scuzz Sundays series, the time of the week where we take an in-depth look back at an old relic from the Emo-Rock or Pop-Punk genres, which was first released during the late-1990’s and the mid-2000’s, to see if it can hold up to our modern quality standards! As a child, I can remember owning a copy of “The Chronicles Of Life and Death” on the physical CD format, of course, performed by Pop-Punk Maryland natives Good Charlotte. According to the writer Bruce Britt, Good Charlotte combined “the hard-charging fury of skate-punk, the melodiousness of pop, and the spooky, mascara-smeared sensibilities of ’80s goth”, with their music also being cited as Skate-Punk, Dark-Pop, Rap-Rock, Pop-Rock and Goth-Pop. Their most well-known work is found on the band’s second album record, “The Young and The Hopeless”, which saw the group embark on their first headlining US arena tour soon after it’s release. At the time, “The Young and Hopeless” was a mixed bag in terms of the reviews from critics, who found the overall experience (in particular, the lyricism) to fall into the cliched tropes of the genres that it tapped into. However, the album was a massive commercial success, and it has been certified as “Platinum” by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) three times. It’s success was global, as it charted in the Top 20 of the Albums Charts in Australia, Sweden, New Zealand and, of course, the UK. It contained singles like “Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous” which crossed over from the Scuzz world to the Pop world. In 2002, the track peaked at #20 of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The track also gained Top 20 chart positions in Ireland, Sweden, Australia and Switzerland. Here in the UK, it reached the spot of #8 on the UK Singles Chart. Let’s take a look back at the Emo-Rock relic below.

With a few allusions to Johnnie Cochran, a famous attorney who was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife after representing O.J. Simpson in court, and several other higher-class, wealthy celebrities who took their lives in a dark direction, the basic themes of the lyrics are based upon the very materialistic aspects of fame, and how money/status can blur the lines between the legal and privileged systems in some cases. Joel Madden chants: “All they do is p**s and moan, inside the Rolling Stone, Talkin’ about how hard life can be” over the top of a steady lead guitar riff and a reverb-drenched backing vocal. The chorus is very clear-cut, as Madden ponders: “If money is such a problem/Well, they got mansions/Think we should rob them” with a polished vocal delivery, as a pretty heavy auto-tune effect and a toned bass guitar riff conveys elements of Pop-Rock and Power-Pop, and the pacing is sharp and melodic. The half-way point slows the guitar instrumentation down slightly, and elements of Rap-Rock creep in, with Madden reciting: “Well, did you know when you were famous you could kill your wife, And there’s no such thing as 25 to life?” as a robust drum beat takes center stage. The music video elicited a few little chuckles out of me for it’s nostalgic effects, but, to be honest with you, I feel this is probably one of the weakest throwbacks that we’ve had on the Scuzz Sundays feature. Sadly, this track just hasn’t aged well at all. The problem is how, due to the mathematical auto-tune effects of the vocals to package up the track for mainstream commercial radio airplay and the label ‘boy-band’ look and feel of the band’s chemistry as a whole, the lyrics lack a sense of credibility. The guitar riffs sound totally generic, but inoffensive. It’s the cheesy feel of the nasal singing which makes the challenging of the pop conventions feel blatantly inauthentic. Basically put, the problem is when you build your entire career on a very creatively record label-driven track which is about mainstream celebrities supposedly complaining about how “hard” their lives are, while being incredibly rich and famous yourself, you kind-of lose the ability to criticize your fellow celebrities for complaining about their own lives. It makes the lyrics come across as “whining”, and it makes me feel like there is a sense of cynicism and hypocrisy here. Cheesy, and topically invalid.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “The Young and Hopeless” (Released on 1st October, 2002) (via Epic Records)

Thank you for reading your weekly installment in our Scuzz Sundays series. It’s always a pleasure when it comes to writing up this feature for you, and I will be back to kick off the first full week of the new month with a smile on my face tomorrow! We’ll be taking an in-depth look at a recent single from an emerging New-Wave Indie Rock 4-piece group based in Yorkshire who I previously covered another single from, a short while ago on the blog. Over the weekend, they released their self-titled debut album record on the Heavenly Recordings label. 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/

22nd Birthday Special Edition: Beck – “Hollywood Freaks”

September 2, 2020 — Leave a comment

It’s hard to think someone ever actually designed that…thing. It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Midnite Vultures” (Released on November 23rd, 1999) (via DGC Records/Bang Bang)

But, that’s why… I LOVE it! Good Morning to you, I am Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to get typing up about a different piece of music every day! I’m 22 today, not that it really changes anybody’s lives or anything, so I thought it’d be cool to spotlight one of my all-time favourites, since this is similar to what I did last year, where I introduced you to the first track that I ever played on the radio. A consistent repeat of my streaming library is Beck’s “Midnite Vultures”, the seventh LP record that was released by the multi-BRIT and multi-Grammy winning producer, back in 1999. This is probably the biggest outlier in Beck’s shape-shifting discography, as it was the last album he produced before going into his more acoustic-driven, Folk sound that has since become popular with his fans. I present to you… An Experimental Funk album! The critical response was divisive, as it parodied and satirized the pastiche of late-70’s US R&B/Soul and 80’s Neo-Psychedelic Vegas aesthetics with Beck’s typically obscure hook-driven songwriting, the abrupt changes in instrumentation, and the sleek G-Funk influences it pays homage to. I can understand the common criticism that the novelty factor puffs out of steam and energy a little bit towards the end, but it’s still one of the most fun and engaging albums that you could ever possibly listen to and it was wholly different to 96’s “Odelay” and more tonally original than 98’s “Mutations”. Simply put, it stands out as a breath of fresh air in his discography, and the unique sound has never fully been revisited by Beck since. I prefer “Hollywood Freaks” to any of the other tracks you would find here – so give it a fair chance to grow on you below.

Had a few listens? Good. For me, “Hollywood Freaks” works perfectly as the White teen aged male’s pastiche to postmodern R&B, with a satirical jab to any R&B-based “booty call” track ever written, as Beck valiantly hangs out with: “The Hollywood freaks on the hollywood scene”, with distractedly low rate workings of sexual activity (“Hot milk, mmm tweak my nipple”) and a care-free mimicry of political correction, and elitism. Beck isn’t making fun of rap or even of people who shop at Old Navy, inherently doing so. Beck’s vocals sound upbeat and dynamic, twisting-and-turning between different textures and breaking stylistic conventions at each turn, before layering out a wailing rap background vocal of: “Jockin’ my mercedes/Probably have my baby/Shop at Old Navy/You wish you was an old lady”, following interludes of funk-laden breaks, as a Brass melody wraps itself around the hook: “Touch it real good if you want a peace/How do people know I’m that type of freak?”, before we go back to those fragmented, deep Synth rhythms and infectiously melodic rap verses. Explicit lyricism (“I wanna know what makes you scream/Be your twenty million dollar fantasy)” and mocking the upper-class (“My sales go triple/We drop lobotomy beats) makes for the icing on the cake, with nonsensical songwriting that shines with an affectionate grin. The entire vibe of the record is Prince goes doo-lally, and “Hollywood Freaks” asserts this, with it’s clever spoken-word delivery and a rebellious tinge of Punk melodicism that drives the humor forward. It ends with a child’s backing vocal, and a gentle stream of Synths that marks a key change, as we lean more heavily into dance-led territory. The erotic nature of the lyrics makes for a knowing nod to white postmodernists, with vocals and instrumentation that toys around with the R&B genre’s conventions of money, fame and power. Overall, I feel these themes still work brilliantly 20 years on, and it’s still difficult to find anything else that sounds entirely like this. Well – they do say that truly good music never ages!

  • Pictured: Beck Hansen in a promotional photoshoot for “Mellow Gold” (1994) (Photo via DGC/Bang Bang)

I have previously covered a brief selection of Beck’s other work on the blog. Last year, he released a new album, “Hyperspace”, and you can read up on my thoughts on the lead single “Uneventful Days” here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/29/todays-track-beck-uneventful-days/ and the album track “See Through” here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/11/28/todays-track-beck-see-through/. I have also previously looked at another classic track from his older discography, “Tropicalia”, which you can explore here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/08/20/todays-track-beck-tropicalia/

  • Pictured: Art Collage showing the many faces of Beck over the decades (2018) (Photo Credit: Sarita Schaffer)

Thank you for reading my new post! I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at an Irish Alternative Punk poet who is an emerging artist on the Chess Club Records indie label. She has often been likened to Mark E. Smith, Nick Cave and The Slits, and she has performed with John Cooper-Clarke and The Brian Jonestown Massacre at sold-out theater shows across the UK, as well as gaining traction from outlets like The Guardian, The Quietus and Stereogum. 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/