Countdown To Christmas 2021: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – ‘In This Home Of Ice’

December 8, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Alec Ounsworth (Lead Vocals/Synths/Drum Machine/Rhythm Guitar), Lee Sargent (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Tyler Sargent (Bass Guitar), Robbie Guertin (Keyboard/Backing Vocals) & Sean Greenhalgh (Drums/Percussion) (2011) (Photo via TuneFind.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to get those jingle bells ringing as we carry on with our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ series of winter posts this year, not forgetting that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘In This Home On Ice’ arrives to your attention from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which used to be an indie rock collective of musicians based in Brooklyn and Pensylvania who were popular in the mid-00’s. However, as of 2012, it now exists as a solo project of their frontman, the multi-instrumentalist and producer Alec Ounsworth. The band never expected to find much commercial success when they were formed, but the demand for their rare debut album was so high they were required to reprint the CD following its release in 2005. The likes of David Bowie & David Byrne were also spotted in attendance within the crowd of their live shows around the time too, and so that certainly helped their case, with the band becoming a solid alternative to the more rowdy Brit-Pop movement of the 00’s indie scene that saw rock bands like Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs finding overseas popularity with their more brash melodies, and the more cerebral style of production from Ounsworth was largely a refreshing change of pace, leading to strong word of mouth as a good, old-fashioned way for the group to set themselves apart. ‘In This Home On Ice’ remains to be a favourite of Ounsworth’s discography and it was released as a single from 2005’s self-titled debut LP. The album found fame on the back of buzz built up from various MP3 blogs and music publications like Pitchfork and songs from the record have appeared in wider popular culture like the 2011 teen drama film ‘The Art Of Getting By’ and an episode of ‘The Office’ in the US during 2005. The band themselves have appeared in the 2008 film ‘The Great Buck Howard’ and scored a track for the 2008 film ‘Woodpecker’ along with James Lavino. Released as a single in the UK in 2005 by the indie label Wichita Recordings, ‘In This Home On Ice’ peaked at #68 on the UK Singles Chart. This one is still a crowd favourite at live performances, and Ounsworth’s performed it as recently as 2015 for a ‘Live On KEXP’ gig seen below.

Although Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is now considered to be solo act, Alec Ounsworth remains to be as active as ever in releasing new material and keeping the fans that have stayed with him engaged. In fact, he self-released a new album – ‘New Fragility’ – as recently as February 2021 to favorable reviews from critics who enjoyed his dark expression of mature themes like divorce on the album. If you live locally to me, you can also get tickets to see him live at The Portland Arms on 7 June 2022. As for ‘In This Home On Ice’, however, Ounsworth presents a distinct flair of a mirror in small pieces as the production feels quite fragmented and documents a nervous breakdown to the beat of some barbarically styled post-grunge rock. It features lyrics that are hard to decipher at times, much akin to the work of Shoegaze bands like Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine in the early-90’s. Explicable as both a document of a tough breakup or a critique of how society treated romance in the early 00’s on the whole, he goes for some aural textures and some winter-themed lyrics that feel like a neat complement to the uptempo guitar melodies. It feels like he’s also borrowing from bands like RIDE and The Sundays as the contents lean more towards some bedroom pop production that wouldn’t feel out of place in the popularity of that genre nowadays, and the sweeping vocal whines of Ounsworth feels like a mixture of Stereophonics and Blur in terms of wider Brit-Pop influences. While not strictly a Christmas song, there’s an upbeat vibe to the tune and key refrains that compare frost and ice to the trials and tribulations of how “confusion becomes a philosophy”, in Alec’s lyrical words, when it comes to the fantasies that watching TV creates and how the memories that we salvage from a failed romantic partner can impact our expectations of what a successful partnership should look like, as well as touching upon the visual cues of love and he disfigures the illusionment from the perspective of a disjointed Circus fugue. I would have liked the melodies to feel a little more festive and the melancholic mood may become unsettling after a while, but it’s a good track that encourages me to let my guard down and enjoy some wholesome Pop music. There’s nothing that is intently very original about the songwriting or instrumentation as such, but it has an air of nostalgia and vibrancy to it that is more important to me. I also like how you can barely hear what Alex sings because it creates the kind of Shoegaze mood that encourages you to co-operate with the music to map more onto it, and it allows you to nurture a more personal connection with the fuzzy textures of the guitar and drums, as opposed to having too much of a clear-cut narrative that you are told to follow. While not technically a Christmas song by any means, this is pure 00’s indie that is lovely to associate with this frosty festive season.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’ (LP) (Released on June 28th, 2005) (via Wichita Recordings)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out the latest post on the blog and it is highly appreciated as always. Tomorrow, we’ll be catching up on a cracking new single that was originally released in September by an LA-based Asian-American singer songwriter who graduated from The University Of Southern California’s music department alongside fellow alumni including Remi Wolf and Jensen McRae. She cites everybody from Ben Howard to Blood Orange as her influences. On her excellent track, ‘Suburbia’, she reflects upon her personal experience of growing up in Chicago.

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Santa’s Scuzz Sundays: Relient K – “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”

December 5, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for “Let It Snow Baby… Let It Reindeer” (Released in 2007) (via Gotee Records)

Happy Holidays to you and a Ho-Ho-Hello – this is Santa Claus, the big white-bearded red coat-wearing man who you once met at a place like Huntingdon Garden & Leisure Centre, and I’m taking over Jacob’s ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature on One Track At A Time, who I am not connected to in any way at all whatsoever, because he deserves a little break from writing up about a different piece of music every day! Believe me, I would know as somebody who makes toys in the workshop with a team of bumbling elves in the Arctic all year round. However, while I’m performing my small chores like writing Christmas cards on my typewriter in the office or checking to see who has been naughty or nice – I love to get down to some Pop-Punk from the late-90’s and mid-00’s. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, but the trashier – the better. One of my modern favourites is the fast, frenetic soft metal cover version of the ancient carol ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman’ by the Christian Contemporary punk band Relient K, who you may know from winning two Dove Awards and releasing two gold-certified albums in their careers. Jacob also tells me that Matt Thiessen, the lead vocalist, has also produced material for Owl City and Switchfoot. ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ is taken from the band’s second christmas album, the pun-tastic ‘Let It Snow Baby… Let It Reindeer’ that includes a mix of cover versions and original tracks. It has been hailed by Jesus Freak Hideout as “one of the better modern christmas projects you can find today”, and it earned good reviews from IGN and Pop Sugar. Let’s rock out to Relient K below.

Released in 2007, ‘Let It Snow Baby… Let It Reindeer’ sold over 4,500 copies in its first week of release, and although most of the band’s licensed cover versions of numbers like ‘Silver Bells’, ‘Sleigh Ride’ and ‘O Holy Night’ were eventually pulled from iTunes, they have later appeared on Gotee’s Christmas compilation album CD ‘Tis The Season To Be Goatee’ that has been available in shops since 2010. Short and sweet as a Christmas cookie at just about two minutes long in duration, Relient K’s version of ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ approaches Christmas from just about every angle of Christmas as a proof of a well-rounded concept, with familiar lyrics that touch upon the birth of Christ and the capturing the spirit of the season as Thiessen promises us with “O tidings of comfort and joy” and “To free all those who trust in him/From Satan’s power and might” over the top of some lightly distorted guitar riffs that keeps the tempo of the tune rolling at a quick pace. It feels surprisingly heavier than you may expect from Relient K, in terms of the tone and the textures, and it contains some unique guitar melodies that give the track an excitable feel as the beats shift back and forth between the speakers of my grotto at certain times. My little helpers also love this one because they say it manages to be a fun and diverse festive venture. Overall, I think there’s a lot to like here, and this is a fresh and original spin on the classic carol.

Pictured: Matt Thiessen (Vocals/Piano) & Matt Hoopes (Lead Guitar/Percussion) (2016) (via Chorus.fm)

That brings us to the last paragraph of the post! Jacob will be back tomorrow, and thank you for checking out his blog every day. I would, if I had more time to. Alas, I have got presents to pack for the children of Alaska. He’ll be here tomorrow to share some music with you from a New-York based soulful rock trio who share the sane name as a Mexico-set animation film that Disney Pixar released in 2017 featuring members of Dirty Projectors, Pavo Pavo, Chimney and Dustrider amongst their lineup.

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

November 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

November 21, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Paramour Sessions’ (LP) (Released on Sept 12th, 2006) (via Geffen Records)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Today’s Track: White Lies – ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’

November 16, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’ (LP) (Available from Feb 18, 2022) (via PIAS Recordings)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into the words of Jacob Braybrooke and it’s time for another quick daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! The calendar for a new year of album releases seems to be filling up all of a sudden, with the likes of Charli XCX and Metronomy set to issue anticipated new long-players in the early months, but the Ealing-based Post Punk Revival group White Lies, who were originally formed as Fear Of Flying in 2007, are yet another cog in the machine of 2022 releases. A band who gained popularity at a similar time to their peers of Editors, The Pigeon Detectives and The Bravery, White Lies have survived the ‘Indie Distortion’ of the 00’s as a critically acclaimed live act. Their debut album, ‘To Lose My Life’, was a number one hit on the UK Albums Chart in its first week on sale, and they were also recruited for BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2009’ poll, and nominated for the BRIT’s Critics Choice Award. They are shortly going to issue their sixth LP, ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’, which they recorded within two studio sessions at the Assault & Battery and Sleeper studios in their homestead of London, where they resumed their partnership with frequent collaborator Ed Buller as their engineer. It was also co-produced and mixed by Cladius Mittendorfer, who has previously spent time behind the decks with Panic! At The Disco and Weezer. The title track and lead single, ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’, is our first taste of the record, which the Indie Rock trio describe as their most ambitious project yet. It has been accompanied by a music video directed by James Arden, which finds vocalist Harry McVeigh embossed in an hourglass of sinking sand. They will be touring the UK and Europe in Spring of 2022, and the accomplished new single explores the anxieties of modern masculinity in a mental health position. Let’s give it a spin below.

“We wrote this song quickly, late at night, and often the songs which come quickest are written from the gut and the heart, not with the head”, the band collectively say about their latest single, noting, “We wanted the melody to feel like a hymn, to give the confessional lyrics weight despite being wrapped up as a Pop song. It’s about accepting vulnerability as a man, and knowing it’s ok to be broken. There’s never been a more pressing time to spread the message that it’s ok to not be ok”, in their press statement to announce their forthcoming full-length album. Built on an intoned, Synth-enhanced drum groove that should be familiar to fans of Joy Divison or Interpol, bands that White Lies have cited as their inspirations, McVeigh reflects on the strength that modern men are pressured to conform to, with lyrics like “It’s not the way a man like me behaves/It’s not the way the world would make me play my part” in the chorus, and the opening refrain of “Am I a faulty kind of man so tender in the heart?” says a lot about how the band view the stereotypes of men being quiet and well-composed, somewhat cold and emotionless, in British society. Meanwhile, the instrumentation decorates the scene with glistening, 80’s New Wave Synth hooks and a vocal delivery that feels silky, but the brooding evocations of the lyrics are still a little bleak and colder than your average Pop/Rock record. It feels a little gothic and dark, which is representative of the band’s earlier work, while also giving the hooks a more distinctly airy sound. They follow a conventional Pop/Rock structure, with the bright tonality of the Synths counteracting the more harsh, aggressive guitar-led beats. It walks a delicate tightrope between 80’s Pop and Post-Punk, and, thankfully, it is a tightrope that White Lies walk confidently. In fact, given how I haven’t seen the trio to be particularly relevant in recent years, I was suprised how much I enjoyed this new track and that’s because I personally really, really enjoyed it very much. This is very catchy Post-Rock music that feels influenced merticulously by the band’s own late-00’s image and the likes of Tears For Fears from the 80’s. It manages to fulfill the ‘Indie Dancefloor’ niche of their genre, while the post-modern existentialist lyrics within the songwriting give you something more to feel and think about that resonates beyond the commercial accessibility of the new track, and so it feels brooding and bleak enough to please Post-Punk fans while reeling in some audiences who may typically steer away from the Alternative Rock scene. Overall, this was an excellent single that feels catchy and easy to access yet intriguing, as with each listen, I can find something new to come to light that I may have skipped beforehand. While it is perhaps not likely to tip the planet over on its axis, this was a solid and engaging single from a band who simply know what they’re comfortable with doing and what to give their fans, and stick to it well, while gradually evolving their style with subtlety.

Pictured: Harry McVeigh (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Charles Cave (Bass Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals) and Jack Lawrence-Brown (Drums/Percussion) (2017) (Photography by Red Light Management)

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me on the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for the newest entry in our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ feature, as we look at some Festive music that’s new and original, coming from an American Singer-Songwriter and Pianist who has won nine Grammy awards and she was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine’s artists of the 2000’s decade chart. She also made her acting debut in the 2007 movie ‘My Blueberry Nights’ – which was directed by Wong Kar-Wai.

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Scuzz Sundays: Hoobastank – ‘Out Of Control’

November 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Doug Robb (Lead Vocals), Dan Estrin (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Jesse Charland (Keyboard/Bass Guitar) and Chris Hesse (Drums) (2013) (Photo by http://www.hiddenjams.com/)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Today’s Track: Coach Party – “FLAG (Feel Like A Girl)”

October 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Jess Eastwood (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar), Joe Perry (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Stephanie Norris (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Guy Page (Drums) (2021) (Photo via Chess Club Records)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m writing to you to present yet another daily track post to your eye line, because its always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘FLAG (Feel Like A Girl)’ is the latest single from the Isle Of Wight quartet Coach Party, which features the line-up of frontwoman Jess Eastwood, Joe Penny, Stephanie Norris and Guy Page, who mostly dip between Post-Rock and Punk Rock. The 4-piece – who have recently supported Sea Girls on a tour – released their latest EP, ‘After Party’, in April that included the engaging singles ‘Everybody Hates Me’ and ‘Can’t Talk, Won’t’, which gained traction with support from myself – as well as BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, BBC Radio 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq and Radio X’s John Kennedy, on UK national radio. Coach Party have also been covered by The I and The Observer newspapers, and they have been signed to Chess Club Records – the home of artists like Sinead O’Brien, Phoebe Green and Alfie Templeman, and past label successes include Jungle and Wolf Alice. Currently, the band have been keeping busy with a long-awaited UK tour including 24 dates, which includes a performance locally to me at The Portland Arms in Cambridge in January 2022. They will also be stopping off for sets in Norwich, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Reading, Kent and more in the new year. The announcement has been met with the release of a new single, ‘FLAG (Feel Like A Girl’), a furious anthem about a lecherous guy. The music video is a solid one too, and it sees the band donning 18th century outfits to reflect the political themes of gender inequality of the lyrics, and it was directed by Dan Broadley. Let’s give it a spin below.

The quartet says, “FLAG is our ode to out of date scum buckets who hold on to a dangerously distorted set of morals (Or lack thereof), and who should be dealt with firmly”, in their official press release, explaining, “The song speaks for itself, but, for us, Dan’s concept and vision for the storyline further strengthens the important, relevant and aggressive message of the song, and it was sick to dress up like Jane Austen stuff. We always have a lot of fun making videos, and with this one we’re stoked to have been able to get out of our comfort zone and push some boundaries”, when discussing the attached music video. A companion piece to the single, it features angry scenes and dynamic cinematography that complements the catchy Pub Rock sound of the track, in its boiling bass guitar melodies and volatile, yet brave, vocals that feels like a defiant mixture of earworm-laden indie punk overall. Lyrics like “When did you become/An obsessive freak” and “I don’t wanna do this all my life/Looking for a place where I’m treated right” don’t beat around the bush and there’s a fairness to the firm delivery of the louder, heavier rhythms. There’s a slight electronic padding to the live drums, which gives the production a more polished delivery, and the slight distortion of the guitars adds a fuzzy, blurred effect to the punchy and furious melodies. Eastwood’s vocal performance finds her embodying a character that is tired of feeling unsafe and objectified by other people, who appear to be mostly men who doubt her abilities, and she feels rather ear piercing in her methods of depicting some manipulative and abusive behavior being experienced within her life. The vocals are more about self-worth and protection, however, and so the indelibly driving vocals have a well-balanced level of righteous and excruciating anger to them. Overall, the ideas of keeping yourself safe and proving doubters wrong never feels lost in the meaning of the tune despite some ambiguity in the lyrics. The instrumentation is catchy and heavy in equal spades, and each member of the band are given the chance to shine in their different sections. Coach Party are a great little band, and they have hacked their target angrily once again on ‘FLAG (Feel Like A Girl)’.

Pictured: Tour Poster for Coach Party’s UK & Ireland Headline Tour (2021) (Photo via Facebook.com)

That’s everything for now! Thank you very much for joining me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘New Album Release Fridays’, as we select one of the weekend’s most buzz-worthy album releases for closer inspection. This week’s pick comes from a Brooklyn Art Punk band who have recently been signed to Partisan Records. They will be hitting the roads of Europe next month, with a live gig at the Honeyglaze, London on the 17th and 18th of November, and the Endorphin Transistor in Paris on the 23rd.

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Scuzz Sundays: One Eyed Doll – “Committed”

October 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Hole’ (LP) (Released on 1st January, 2007) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to revisit some ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past for another weekly edition of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog – not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! When you think back to the music that channels like MTV, Kerrang and Scuzz supported back in the 00’s, it was a sadly very male-dominated picture. However, one of the few female artists who “kicked ass and took names”, as wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin would have said on old WWF re-runs, was Kimberley Freeman – the brains behind the operation of One-Eyed Doll, a Gothic Rock duo that she leads with Jason Rufus Sewell from Austin, Texas who were voted as the ‘Best Punk Band’ at the Austin Music Awards at SXSW three years in a row – 2009, 2010 and 2011. Known for her acrobatic and high-energy live performances, her trademark high kicks, her unique baby voice that resembles both Serj Tankien and Jack Off Jill on some different occasions, and her pony-tailed Harlequin aesthetic, Freeman was featured as one of Revolver Magazine’s ‘Hottest Chicks’ in 2011, 2012 and 2015, and so representation of talented women in the industry sadly didn’t make many moves for the better just yet. Still, she has also been featured in Guitar Player Magazine’s list of the ‘Top 20 Most Extraordinary Guitarists’, and One Eyed Doll have racked up over one million views on YouTube despite being a pretty niche band, and so the modern times are treating them rather well. The band are still recording music and touring today, with 2017’s ‘Something Wicked’ EP being their last release of original, new music and 2018’s ‘Holier’ serving as a remixed edition of their well-received debut LP, 2007’s ‘Hole’, as well. They even shot a new video for ‘Committed’, which you can see below.

The cool Texan duo have a combined discography of 11 full-length album releases to their name, and their music has been used in several different pieces of media like television shows, online streaming series, video games and movies, including a very notable feature on MTV’s ‘Road Rules’ series, and the band have also developed a niche from performing strongly at major Anime comic conventions like DragonCon, and including the headline slot at the 4&20 Blackbird Festival in California. Taken from their 2007 debut album, ‘Hole’, originally, ‘Committed’ follows Freeman’s typically eccentric vocal style by essentially being written about an imagined life in a mental asylum, with straightforward lyrics like “How I wish this room was vacant/Can’t seem to break through these padded walls” and “Kicking, screaming, drooling, biting/They say there’s no use in fighting” that set up the scene visually, and feel a little funny in the process. The verses have a rough, Garage sound behind them with chugging guitar riffs and uptempo Drum melodies, with a fade out in time for the bridge where Freeman sings “One more mark against society/Can’t you see I’m not a threat” atop some muted melodies, and she begins to make a quirky social commentary of some form. The perspective of singing as a mental patient feels a little ambiguous, and so the track could probably be interpreted in different ways, such as to be about the treatment of the mentally ill in society or the perception of ‘crazy’ as a construct of stereotype, but the erratic guitar riffs and the jagged bass melodies keep the track feeling catchy and easy to remember for a short while, with a chorus that gets wild and a final guitar solo that unleashes pure Punk mayhem onto your brain cells with the short bursts of frantic guitar riffs and the variety of the noise collage. Though it may get a little bloated or baggy for some, I enjoyed how elaborate the sound truly is and Freeman strikes me as a creative person who may be a little shy or awkward, but doesn’t compromise on her true artistic vision for her music. This was a lot of fun overall, and certainly above average for the Pop-Punk scene of the time that relied on the likes of Sum 41 and The All American Rejects to sell tickets. It just feels more quirky than those bands, who were definitely serviceable, but ‘Committed’ was a burst of colour. Variety is the splice of life – and Freeman has plenty of it in the tank.

Pictured: Kimberly Freeman (Lead Vocals/Theremin/Kazoo/Rhythm Guitar/Percussion) and Jason “Junior” Rufus Sewell (Drums/Bass Guitar/Synths/Keyboard) at Rockfest (2019) (Photo by Mark Scott)

Thank you for checking out today’s post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at a well-emerged UK indie rock band who, in a similar vein to Foals and The Vaccines, are another part of the recent resurgence in British guitar rock music. They were nominated for one of BBC’s ‘Sound Of…’ awards, and their newest single was premiered on BBC Radio 1 as Arlo Parks’ “Hottest Record In The World” in September.

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

October 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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Way Back Wednesdays: The Runaways – “Black Leather”

October 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘And Now… The Runaways’ (LP) (Released in 1978) (via Cherry Red Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and its time for me to drop a written ‘Cherry Bomb’ into your line of sight for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It is a pity that an all-female Punk rock band are still a bit of a novelty in 2021. There are a couple – such as Dream Wife, Shonen Knife and Sleater-Kinney – but The Runaways were widely considered to be the first group of gals to really do it when they formed in 1976, and, despite only being around as a band for a few years together, became an international sensation in territories like Japan, where ‘Cherry Bomb’ was a particular smash hit. Their time came to an end with the release of ‘And Now… The Runaways’ in 1978, which was their first and only album without Vicki Blue as their bassist, who left the project. The record seemed to get a rather contentious response from their fans, as the LP went through a period of ‘developmental hell’ where they brought a producer, John Alcock, on board for the first time, who reportedly tried to phase Joan Jett out of proceedings a little and he recruited Laurie McAllister as a new bassist shortly after the record was released to the public. The record also has a few cover songs instead of original tracks, such as ‘Black Leather’, a track originally written and performed by The Sex Pistols in 1980. However, as time wore on, the record earned a cult following because it served as a great introduction to The Runaways for a new generation of fans and it also exhibited a harder, more diverse variety of sounds than we heard The Runaways explore before. Let’s spin the highlight ‘Black Leather’ below.

‘And Now.. The Runaways’ received a remastered release by fan favourite revivalists Cherry Red Records a few years ago, and most of the album’s bass parts were actually played by Lita Ford. For your information, a coming-of-age biopic movie about The Runaways – titled after the band – was released in 2010, which starred Kristen Stewart as Cherie Currie, who actually played the role to perfection. It was directed by Italian-Canadian filmmaker Floria Sigismondi in her feature-length debut, and it also starred the likes of Dakota Fanning and Michael Shannon, and it earned a worldwide gross of over $4.6 million. The 5-piece loved their black leather fashion, and their take on The Sex Pistols lesser-known 1980 original was a feisty ode to their rebellious philosophy. The guitar melodies come thick and fast, while lyrics like “Well, he’s all geared up, walking down the street/I can see the smile, dripping down his sleeve” and “It’s late at night, and I’m all alone/I can hear the boots getting hear her home” flirt with Slasher horror movie tropes and reveals some more maturity for The Runaways, who previously sang about leaving their parents behind or misbehaving at school quite regularly in earlier releases. It definitely sounds like they were running away from something or someone, however, and you can see what I’ve done there. The overall instrumentation is a fairly good combination of pre-established Grunge and of-the-time underground Punk sounds, with some more catchy Pop-oriented hooks and rhythmic sequences in the chorus, where lines like “He’s clawing at the door/I can’t take it anymore” stick out a little from the pack on paper. The vocals feel raw and nicely unpolished, while the rapid fire drums and guitar combo has a rough edge to it. The vocals also sound a little jagged and disjointed in the mix however, and I think it’s because they simply feel a little disorienting in how it flows with the rest of the mixture, as opposed to it being a bad vocal performance on its own. I don’t think ‘Black Leather’ is their strongest, however, but it makes a good pick for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ because it feels underrated and less obvious or over-played than other options from their discography. The music had not changed as much as some older fans seemed to think at the time, but it simply sounds heavier and less polished. All in all – it was a decent and more adult-oriented evolution for the group despite its flaws.

Pictured: Joan Jett (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals), Sandy West (Drums/Percussion), Micki Steele (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Lita Ford (Lead Guitar/Acoustic Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Cherrie Curie (Tambourine/Snare Drum) in LA (1976) (Photo by Bob Gruen)

Thank you for checking out my latest post and thank you for your continued support for my work. I’ll be back with a new episode of my ‘The Subculture Sessions’ podcast that you can stream on Spotify, and I’ll have another new daily post on the blog as usual. I’ll be introducing you to one of my favourite recent discoveries, who I heard on a recent episode of ‘The New Music Fix’ hosted by John Ravenscroft. They are a new London-based electronic duo of multi-instrumentalists who have been in the studio with Skrillex and Park Hye Jin – and they’ve worked in A&R for Silver Bear Recordings.

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