Today’s Track: Mitski – ‘Love Me More’

February 28, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Laurel Hell’ (LP) (Released on February 4th, 2022) (via Dead Oceans)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get down to business as we leave the shortest month of the winter for a warmer March as we head into Spring by covering one of the most crucial releases of February for yet another daily track on the blog, given how it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Dubbed as the “best young songwriter” of the US by The Guardian earlier in the past month, the Japanese-American singer-songwriter and producer Mitski has been raging up a storm domestically and internationally with her sixth studio album – ‘Laurel Hell’ – which she released to a healthy buzz and a positive reception on February 4th via the Dead Oceans label. Taking its title from a Folk term for being trapped in thickets of Laurel, an English name for common trees and plants of the Laurel family, that grow in the Southern Appalachian Mountains region of North-Eastern America. Her new album peaked in the top ten of the albums charts in the UK, Australia and Ireland, and it was the best-selling album in the US during its first week on sale, meaning that a wide variety of listeners heard Mitski’s dynamic take on nostalgic Disco, Synth-Pop, Indie Pop and Electronic Rock styles. I read a fascinating story that Mitski had to quit music to love it, as the record was originally reportedly going to be a stinker on deliberate purpose so that Mitski could finalise her current record contract and leave music peacefully, but that thankfully, didn’t turn out to be the case, and her vulnerable songwriting regarding topics like insomnia and mental weight went through many iterations over the last three years, with the record originally designed to be some form of an Avant-Garde Industrial Punk album, later becoming a softer Country album, before Mitski experimented with electronic production and the record was conceived in the final form that you can hear now. The final pre-release single was ‘Love Me More’ that you can preview below.

“Love Me More went through the most iterations out of all the songs on the album. It’s been too fast, too slow, and at some point, it was even an old style Country song”, Mitski said of the single, which has been accompanied by an official music video that was directed by Christopher Good, re-uniting Mitski with the creative behind her ‘Nobody’ video from three years ago, and she concludes, “Finally, I think because we had watched The Exorcist, we thought of Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’ and experimented with floating an ostinato over the chorus. As we steadily evolved the ostinato to fit over the chord progressions, we began to hear how the track was meant to sound”, in her press statement. Starting off with “If I keep myself at home, I won’t make the same mistake/That I made for 15 years” in the opening verse, Mitski begins to croon about her own experiences with finding a fulfilling relationship while embracing a bright stadium-friendly Synth-Pop sound that feels so futuristic yet nostalgic in its tone and delivery, and so a similar collaboration with The Weeknd or La Roux wouldn’t feel out of place for her at some point in the future. A glistening sequence of piercing, self-reflective lyrics like “I wish this would go away/But when I’m done singing this song/I will have to find something else, to do to keep me here” complements a scattered soundscape of early 80’s New Wave synths and skittering up-tempo drum machine melodies that fit the musical ballad style of the lyrics that find Mitski crooning dramatic lyrics like “I could be a new girl/I will be a new girl” and “Here’s my hand, There’s the itch/But I’m not supposed to scratch” as the harshness of the impending Synths see a melodic increase, while never quite exploding into a full-blown club anthem, and so I thought that Mitski paced her instrumentation nicely here. The chorus has a more commanding presence, as she frantically pleads lyrics like “Drown it out/Drown me out” with a demanding atmosphere as the gauzy Synths soundtrack her way to finding nourishment. The end product feels a little scattered to me, but the production is attentively polished for what counts as a fully independent release and she does a great job of valuing her personality above a strive to ‘just have’ a commercial hit, with thoughtful lyrics that maintain the 80’s Pop influences of the track while avoiding the more recycled tropes of the genre. ‘Laurel Heaven’ more like.

Pictured: Mitski Miyawaka in promotional artwork for ‘Laurel Hell’ (2022) (Photo by Ebru Yildiz/Yahoo.com)

That’s all for now! Thank you for tuning into One Track At A Time today, because your support is always very highly appreciated, and I’ll be back tomorrow to guide you through a refreshing single by a group of San Francisco-based shoe-gazers who will release their first new album in a long break of 10 years in March via Fire Talk Records.

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Today’s Track: Melody’s Echo Chamber – ‘Looking Backward’

February 19, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Emotional Eternal’ (LP) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via Domino Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to provide a soothing start to your Saturday with a huge new single by a returning artist for yet another daily track on the blog, given how it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I hope you enjoyed my post about Beach House yesterday – and if you love your Dream-Pop and your Chamber-Pop music of the Shoegaze-esque style, we’ve also got a new album from Melody’s Echo Chamber to look forwards to. This is the lush solo project from French songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Melody Prochet, who recorded her early work with then-boyfriend Kevin Parker of Tame Impala fame, who recorded her debut album in his makeshift studio in Perth, Australia for a release date in late 2012 – and she supported his band on a European tour in 2010. Another album followed since then – 2018’s ‘Bon Boyage’ – which was delayed by a brain aneurysm and a broken vertebrae following a serious accident, and so it’s amazing that nothing has hindered her ahead of ‘Emotional Eternal’, a new album that she will be releasing on April 29th via Domino Recordings. She has released material on Fat Possum Records previously, and her associated projects include My Bee’s Garden and The Narcoleptic Dancers. She is also known for her frequent collaborations with the Stockholm-based Alternative Rock band Dungen. Her music has gained acclaim by sources like Drowned In Sound, Q Magazine, Uncut and AllMusic, and Prochet has a sublime melting pot of influences including Cocteau Twins, Stereolab and Broadcast. Speaking of her upcoming album, she says, “I made some big and impactful decisions and changes to my life. It took me to where it is peaceful, and I think the record reflects this. It’s more direct”, in a press release. Check out the 3D-animated video by Hyoyon Paik for lead single, ‘Looking Backward’, below.

It is clear that creating ‘Looking Backward’ came from a mind-set of finding clarity after spending some time away from making music and enjoying a regular pace of life – given how the gauzy sounds represent a far more grounded and mindful creative process for Melody Prochet – and she also adds, “I wrote the lyrics on my way to Stockholm, in transit at the airport, there was a man creating light reflections with his watch and playing with light on the floors and walls. It felt like an act coming from a source of pure creativity, it made me happy to catch it and inspired me to write the song”, in her press release about the comeback track. Going straight back to the Psych-Pop and the Synth-based work that has made her a big name in music, Prochet begins with the wide-eyed and gauzy lyrics of “I’m reflecting light/Play it on the wall” and “Did you see me looking?/I’m not interested” that make her intentions clear as multi-layered vocals and a firm backing beat push her melodies forwards, creating a driving arrangement of luxuriating Synths and glistening guitar riffs. Lyrics like “Constellation of love/I know that dream/It can’t be real” and “I need the space of time/And you’re running out of time” bask in the shimmering sounds of the highly psychedelic Synth sequences and the Harp-like sound effects, set against the soothing backdrop that has a light Funk influence to it. Lyrically introspective, Prochet neatly matches some gently playful drums and synths with an intimate arrangement that makes heartfelt lyrics like “No, I didn’t need your light” and “You’re not alone/On this lonesome road” sound that little bit more brutal and, most importantly, human. In conclusion, ‘Looking Backward’ is a very welcome return from a clearly talented artist who is honestly experimenting with the concept of providing a more stripped back response to the dense arrangements of her previous work to explore elements of her own social life and a perception of her actual identity at a brisk pace, yet with careful consideration. This is fantastic work for any fans of MGMT, Tame Impala or Miami Horror – yet it has that vital ability to stand out on it’s own too.

Pictured: Melody Prophet performing a live set at FYF Fest (2015) (Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat)

That brings us, swiftly, to the end of another daily post on the blog today. Thank you for spending a few moments of your day to lend me your nifty pair of eyelids and eardrums, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we remember the past of the Pop-Punk genre for another weekly iteration of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the site. We’ll be revisiting a progressive anthem from a well-known Alternative Metal band from Huntington Beach, California who currently boast the former Bad Religion drummer of Brooks Wackerman among their line-up. They will make their debut appearance on the blog.

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Today’s Track: Toro Y Moi – ‘Postman’

February 15, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Mahal’ (LP) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via Dead Oceans)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived for me to virtually hand-deliver yet another daily track on the blog to your letterbox, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We start the day with ‘Postman’ – a track that my mother is bound to enjoy since parcels are her thing. This is the new single from the South Carolina-born producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and graphic designer Toro Y Moi (aka Chad Bear), who is typically recognized as a figurehead for the Chillwave and Synthwave genres from the 2010’s, but his music also toes the line between a brevity of genres including Noise-Pop, Hip Hop, Post-Disco, Psychedelic Soul, Bedroom Pop, Ambient House and Alternative Rock. He has supported the likes of Ruby Suns, Phoenix and Caribou on tour and he has performed his single ‘Ordinary Pleasure’ on Ellen’s talk show. ‘Postman’ has been released as a double single that also includes ‘Magazine’ which features Salami Rose Joe Louis as the featured credit. These two singles are leading his new album ‘MAHAL’ that explores his Fillipino descent and it will be releasing on April 29th via Dead Oceans – the same label as the likes of Mitski, Shame, Khruangbin and Bright Eyes. The new record is a generous 13-track collection which includes contributions from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson, Sofie Royer, The Matson 2 and Alan Polomo (of Neon Indian). Let’s pay his ‘Postman’ a visit below.

‘Postman’ and ‘Magazine’ are the follow-up singles to 2019’s ‘Outer Peace’ – Bear’s sixth studio album. He also collaborated with Flume on ‘The Difference’ during May of 2020, a collaborative single that scored a Grammy nomination and it was used in a global Apple AirBuds advertising campaign. Channeling his inner Bootsy Collins with ‘Postman’, Bear lays out some slinky Psych-Soul beats and some low fidelity Funk grooves that are accelerated by some breezy percussion, like the rattling Tambourine melodies, and the more melodic, driving Bass melodies. Aside from some occasional electronic yelps that sound amusing in how comedically processed they are, the vocals are pretty spacious. Lyrics like “Just another bill today/Just another bill to pay” are direct and to the point, while the repetition of questions like “Mr Postman, did I get a letter?/Did I get a postcard” reflect on the good old-fashioned anticipation that you experience while waiting for an inevitable arrival of a piece of post, a time that we’ve all been through. The last verse, however, features a more emotive lyric of “Mama wrote a letter/A Long time ago/Then she hit her head/God bless her soul” that implies that something more dark is occurring beneath the surface, albeit in a playful way when mixed to the slow rhyming scheme of Bear’s vocal delivery, followed by the glitched outro that feels slightly futuristic by heading towards indie computer music in the brief sequence. Bear clearly leans into how post is a little non-existent in our modern day and age to create some fun and give his track a feel that is both nostalgic and a little progressive. We get a strong grower overall that is a little bizzare, but in a good way, because the composition is frisky and the repetition builds on you with a few repeated listens, and it is the kind of track that can annoy you by getting stuck in your head at work all evening – and that’s coming from my personal experience – thus becoming a catchy little ear-worm. I really liked it with subsequent listens, and I’ve enjoyed quite a lot of Toro Y Moi’s music in the past since it has an air of ‘Almost Pop’ to it where he has a knack for structuring catchy chords and writing high-spirited hooks by directing a decent diversity of various influences, yet it is within his Lo-Fi and Minimalist production that really controls the pace. It has also been a long time since we’ve heard some new solo material from him in comparison to most other artists these days, perhaps, too – and so it feels like a welcome breath of fresh air to hear from him again on ‘Postman’. An engaging and quirky letter of revival and return.

Pictured: Toro Y Moi with Flume in a PR photoshoot for ‘The Difference’ (2020) (Photo Credit: Joyce Kim)

If you want to hear how Toro Y Moi’s style meshes with Flume, you can gauge ‘The Difference’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/06/todays-track-flume-feat-toro-y-moi-the-difference/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Difference’ (Single) (Released on April 30th, 2020) (via Future Classic Records)

That’s all that I have time for today, but I hugely appreciate your support by checking out the blog every day, or for the first time today, as you continue to spread the love to the site this Valentine’s Day despite it being finished. ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ is lined up for tomorrow, where we’ll be revisiting a classic of the Hip-Hop genre of the 1990’s by the Alternative Hip-Hop collective who made Charli 2na a household name.

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New Album Release Fridays: Hembree (feat. Bodye) – ‘Operators’

February 4, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘It’s A Dream!’ (LP) (Released on February 4th, 2022) (via Oread Records)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to take a quick peek at one of the weekend’s most compelling album releases for yet another weekly entry of ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the blog, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! With new LP’s coming out from the likes of Black Country, New Road (Whose frontman Isaac Wood has just decided to leave the band), Mitski, The Animal Collective, Bastille, Cate Le Bon, Rolo Tomassi and Hippo Campus coming from left, right, front and center of the release spectrum today, it looks to be the first truly stacked week of the year from where I’m standing. However, there is also the sophomore album release from Hembree, a Kansas-based indie rock band whose music has been featured in a variety of ad sync placements for Bose, NFL and Apple ever since they gained national attention in the US with ‘Holy Water’ in 2018. Since then, Hembree have supported higher profile names like Phoenix, Cold War Kids, Joywave and Vance Joy on the live touring circuit. You may have also heard their material on the soundtracks of ’13 Reasons Why’ and ‘Outer Banks’ on streaming television. ‘It’s A Dream’ arrives today from Hembree, who were named one of NPR’s Slingshot Artists To Watch in 2018, and the band describe the LP as a record about getting freaky even while you’re freaking out, a quotable sentiment that is relatable to everyone who was left down in the doldrums while the album was written during the pandemic in 2020. A Funk-led single, ‘Operators’ owes a featured credit to Bodye. The band were also joined on a Saxophone section by Henry Solomon, who has previously linked up with Haim. Let’s hear their final results below.

Lead vocalist Isaac Flynn explains, “I wrote it right when all of the protests started in the summer, and the chorus in particular is about when the officers, national guard and even some of the city officials would act like they were with the protesters in solidarity, and then turn around and gas and attack them”, when he spoke about ‘Operators’ in a press release, adding, “They were acting like they were there to help, but it was all for show. It all felt almost cartoonishly villainous to me. I wanted to reflect that in the lyrics and in the dark, dance heavy groove of the song”, to his press statement. Starting off with the headstrong lyric of “Maybe, this time we’ll open our eyes”, ‘Operators’ quickly establishes itself as a track that is directly about 2020, which is fitting given how it was written in Hembree’s hometown in Missouri and recorded remotely from home studios during lockdown. It rolls along with a chirping Saxophone-led groove that is decorated by light percussion that ticks along at a brisk pace, while overtly political lyrics like “What do they want and who are they trying to please” emerge in the chorus. The drums kick along in the uptempo verses, although lyrics like “Overcalculated villains/They’re tying up, What everyone wants” and “Sundown to sunrise, we see the antithesis” find Flynn crooning with a subtle brutality that carries the point across. The rhythms come to life with the Baritone-style saxophone riffs by Solomon, while a more Hip-Hop led verse by Bodye continues to add some variety to the recording in terms of mixing the Funk influences with some Post-Disco vibes and making the lyrics feel as violent or aggressive as they should, given the subject matter of the songwriting. Overall, it’s pretty fantastic as a complete package. The chorus feels punchy and upbeat, but the verses have a tone of brutality to them which make them stand out among more light-hearted Pop offerings. The instrumentation sounds fresh and diverse, yet the Saxophone riffs are constant but not tedious. It feels like a mature pop song overall that offers something fresh to the market, with the lyrical messages about duplicitous law enforcement agents never feeling at odds with the brisk, snappy rhythms of the saxophone and the percussion since the instrumentation has a heavy edge to it as well. Full of violence and vibrancy.

Pictured: Isaac Flynn (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Garrett Childers (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Alex Ward (Lead Guitar), Eric Davis (Keyboard/Synths) and Austin Ward (Drums/Percussion) (2021) (Photo by Jonny Marlow)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another day, and I’ve got to go to work now. Thank you, as always, for taking a moment out of your day to visit the site, however. I’ll be back tomorrow, just like I always am, with something nice and easy since it is Saturday. We’ll be listening to the brand new single from a rock band from Oxford in the UK who have toured internationally for a decade. They told us ‘What Went Down’ in 2015 and had a UK #1 album with ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2’ in late 2019. They also performed a surprise set at Glastonbury Festival in 2019.

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Today’s Track: Alt-J – ‘Hard Drive Gold’

January 29, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Joe Newman (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar/Rhythm Guitar), Augustus Unger-Hamilton (Keyboard/Synths/Percussion) and Thomas Stuart Green (Drums/Backing Vocals) (2021) (Photo by Rosie Matheson)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into the text of writer Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to plug our eardrums into yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I really enjoy promoting music from lesser-known artists during the week, but it’s also nice to check out some new material from slightly higher profile names that still fits the Alternative brand of my work at the weekend, and so we’re going to be listening to the latest single from Alt-J today. Alt-J are certainly seen as reliable veterans of the Indie Pop and Art Rock genres in the UK’s indie rock scene, and they have been garnering acclaim from the music press since they began releasing material as Dajit Dhaliwal and Films in the mid-2000’s. Currently operating as a trio, Alt-J won the Mercury Prize in 2012 for ‘An Awesome Wave’ – their debut album – and the follow-up, 2014’s ‘This Is All Yours’, quickly reached the top spot of the UK Albums Chart. 2017’s ‘Relaxer’ also debuted at #5 on the Billboard Album chart in the US. Alt-J’s fourth studio LP release – ‘The Dream’ – is set to arrive on February 11th via Infectious Music, and the album’s cover artwork features a drawing by the artist Joel Wyylie. The latest single is ‘Hard Drive Gold’, which is accompanied by a music video directed by the band’s own lead vocalist Joe Newman in association with his partner Danny Wallace. The gifted musician has always been involved in Alt-J’s visual output to date so far, but this directorial role marks a certain step up for Newman. Let’s check it out below.

Having previously released ‘U&ME’ and ‘Get Better’ as two singles from the upcoming album, ‘Hard Drive Gold’ adds a third entry to that list, and the band’s Joe Newman explains, “Hard Drive Gold is a slightly tongue-in-cheek song written at what we thought was the height of the Cryptocurrency gold rush. It’s the story of the ultimate childhood fantasy, the schoolboy who becomes a millionaire overnight, and the different interactions he has with people in his life from teachers to neighbours”, adding, “How ironically you interpret it’s message is entirely up to you…”, to offer another tease of the new LP’s creative direction. Kept at a concise three minute length in terms of duration, ‘Hard Drive Gold’ kicks off with a synth-driven drum machine workout that makes quotable lyrics like “Gimme that gold, straight into my hard drive” and “Gimme that fire” a strange and odd feel that gives Newman’s processed and chopped vocals an amusing ring to them, while he sets up the narrative with fairly descriptive refrains like “Oh mama, did you tell Sue that I’m a millionaire now, baby/Trading that crypto” and “My teacher took me to one side and told me I was (Scum), I left then googled neo-liberal” that feel witty and even a little sardonic, while Newman delivers the lyrics with a husky vocal style that feels like a twisted subversion on the Rock ‘N’ Roll peak of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s – think Elvis Presley and Django Django chucked into a blender and you’re halfway there. It is intriguing lyrically, but the instrumentation is still firmly rooted in the Art Rock blueprints of Alt-J, as well as London-based indie bands from the same original era like Everything Everything or the aforementioned Django Django, with Groove-centric Drum rhythms that gradually incorporate wacky sound effects and a sleek set of glistening Keyboard riffs into the equation, before we go a little off-the-rails with a dazzling keyboard solo that feels 80’s and deliberately out-of-place in its effect, and this mix of witty, bouncy vocals and unpredictable instrumentation make for a highly derogatory piece that mocks the ‘fad’ trends of digital retailers and notable current electronic trends. An effective and catchy, while controllably chaotic, mock-up of the idiots who peddle NFT’s and try to break big on Cryptocurrency, which is amusingly also the target audience for Alt-J’s new record, in a way. This is such a lot of good fun.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Dream’ (LP) (Available from February 22nd, 2022) (via Infectious Records)

That leaves me with little else to write other than to thank you for checking out my latest post and that your support is truly appreciated. I’ll be back tomorrow for a new weekly edition of our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature, as we remember a still active Seattle-based Pop Punk band who found commercial success when their 2005 track ‘Always You (Good Times)’ was featured on the soundtrack for ‘Burnout 3: Takedown’ in 2004.

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Way Back Wednesdays: The Beta Band – ‘Squares’

January 26, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Steve Mason (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Richard Greentree (Bass Guitar/Keyboard), John Maclean (DJ/Samples/Producer) and Robin Jones (Drums/Percussion) (Date n/a) (Photo via NME.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to take a break away from the new year of new music releases by revisiting a small sample of the seminal sounds of the past as we go ‘Way Back’ for Wednesday on yet another daily track on the blog, given that it is my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A late-1990’s and early 00’s Alternative Rock group who have been remembered as “The self-destructive pop saboteurs who did it all wrong in all the right ways” by James McMahon, a writer for NME, in 2018 – The Beta Band are the rare case of a band that were, perhaps, a little misunderstood by the contemporary critics of their heyday, and they have only really been seen as highly influential in more modern times. Known for their experimental blend of Folktronica, Trip Hop, Plunderphonics, Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Pop, The Beta Band were praised by Oasis and Radiohead, eventually opening up for their live shows in 2001 and went on to build a healthy cult status with audiences alike. In 2001, in a very strange coincidence, both The Beta Band and Sheffield-based indie pop duo I, Monster decided to add a vocoder and some beats to The Gunter Hallam’s Choir’s ‘Daydream’ to form their own sample-based tracks of ‘Squares’ and ‘Daydream In Blue’, respectively, and the tracks melodies seem similar enough at first glance as to listeners being confused between the two but, upon a further inspection, ‘Squares’ has a more edgy, nightmarish feel in comparison to I, Monster’s more commercially successful adaptation of the 60’s piece. It was taken from The Beta Band’s sophomore album – ‘Hot Shots II’ – which was included in the 2010 edition of the book ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’ and it also reached #13 on the UK Albums Chart and it was co-produced by Colin Emmanuel. Let’s revisit the music video below.

The Beta Band’s music was memorably featured in a scene of the 2000 Romantic Comedy/Drama hybrid movie ‘High Fidelity’ that was based on the Nick Horny-authored novel of the same title. In an iconic clip from the film, a record store owner portrayed by John Cusack states “I will now sell five copies of The Three EP’s by The Beta Band” and he dances around to a full minute or so of ‘Dry The Rain’, a scene that exposed the cult Scottish group to a wide range of new listeners, especially in the US and internationally, and so there’s a fun slice of trivia for you. Back to the task at hand, we start with the immediately familiar lyrics of “I’ve seen the demons, but they didn’t make a sound” and “They tried to reach me, but I lay upon the ground” that get repeated later on, with Steve Mason sounding positively forlorn as he murmurs about seeing darkness trying to control him. You get the sense right away that things are off, with a very glitched Hip-Hop beat meandering and playing with the pitch of the melodies by itself, and a traditional beat only forms barely until the iconic String loop of the sampled track bursts through. The iconic lyrics of “Daydream, I fell asleep beneath the flowers” and “I saw miles and miles of squares, where’s the feeling there?” are met with Faust-like towered Drum backing beats and a neat Kosmiche guitar solo in the final half, forming an ankle-deep Electronica groove that is disorienting textually, almost as if Mason is simply wending through a humid fog but he is neither cynical or clueless. ‘Squares’ by The Beta Band and, also, ‘Daydream In Blue’ by I-Monster have two nearly identical hooks, but while ‘Daydream In Blue’ came and went a little more after it’s initial impact on pop culture, this revision of the sampled track by The Beta Band feels remembered more often, and I think that it has stuck simply because of a better use of sampling. ‘Daydream In Blue’ was memorable for adding a vocoder and a beat-driven style to the track, but that was largely it. However, ‘Squares’ just has more depth to it when you read between the lines. It features the usual hallmarks of The Beta Band in terms of it’s Radiohead-like experimental rock approach, but it also feels more minimalist in it’s light blending of R&B, Hauntology and Hip-Hop elements that are small, but stand out. The darkly psychedelic sounds feel like they’re playing off what you’ve heard before to give it a more nightmarish context that comes with the alienated fear of an awful acid trip. The risk pays off, and we get a half-remembered track that feels strong for this effect.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Hot Shots II’ (LP) (Released on July 16th, 2001) (via Regal Recordings)

That’s all for today! Thank you for being the companion to my Doctor Who with our throwback post today, and I’ll be back tomorrow with some more music, of the fresh variety, that you’re hopefully going to enjoy. We’re looking at a recent single from the London-born DJ and Writer Chris Menist, who began the project of Awkward Corners when he was living in Islamabad. His releases have since spanned record labels like Boomkat, and early recordings were made with local artists from Thailand & Pakistan.

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Today’s Track: Lo Moon – ‘Dream Never Dies’

January 25, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Matt Lowell (Guitars/Vocals), Crisanta Baker (Synth/Bass/Samples), Sam Stewart (Bass Guitar) and Sterling Laws (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2022) (Photo via Twitter.com/Strngr Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, as you will be already aware if you’ve read the blog before, and the time has come for me to write up about some wistful sounds with yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! Comprised of Matthew Lowell, Crisanta Baker, Sterling Laws and guitarist Samuel Stewart – who is the also the son of Eurythmics’ David A. Stewart and Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey – Lo Moon are a nice California-based outfit known for their wide-eyed explorations of uplifting Dream Pop and melodic Indie Rock who have previously been signed to major label Columbia Records after forming in 2016, where they released their self-titled debut album to positive reviews in 2018. Although they seem like a fairly low-profile name, Lo Moon will be supporting The War On Drugs on tour soon. They have also opened for a wide variety of more familiar bands – including Phoenix, Glass Animals, CHVRCHES, Air and London Grammar – along the way. You may have also seen them cap off these rigorous touring schedules with their solo sets at festivals including All Points East in London, Lollapalooza in Chicago and Governor’s Ball in New York City as well. Two years after their debut LP was released, their sophomore album has recently been given a title and a release date. You can hear ‘A Modern Life’ from February 25th – this time via the Strngr Recordings label, and so any die-hard fans of Lo Moon’s little universe will be very excited in just a month’s time. The first single – ‘Dream Never Dies’ – was co-produced by Yves Rothman (Yves Tumor, Miya Folick) and the accompanying music video aims to take you, as the listener, through the broad architecture of ambitions and expectations, as directed by Michael Hili (The Killers, John Carroll Kirby, Lemon Twigs). So, lets check out ‘Dream Never Dies’ below.

Prior to the second new single ‘Raincoats’, ‘Dream Never Dies’ marked an important statement for Lo Moon as it was their first new material in three years. Vocalist Matt Lowell says about this track, “As I get older, I’ve become more and more nostalgic about my youth. I had way less anxiety, I didn’t fear losing the people closest to me, or have to face the bigger questions of life”, adding, “Hope and optimism were just a little bit easier back then. I work hard not to let the complexities of life suck the hope out of me. This song, if nothing else, is a reminder to try my best and not let that happen”, to his press release. Kicking off with a floating array of rich Piano accents, the beat settles into a groove with deep percussion as Lowell recites motivational lyrics like “Locking eyes, late at night butterflies, hold me the rest of my life” and “Let this go, what’s the use?/The more you know, the more we lose” as he mimics swift poetry with a soaring style of vocals that punctuate the verses, and later, the chorus. Later on, the soundscape develops further with cinematic Synths backing up his warm vocals and a sprawling guitar solo that continues to widen the scope of their sound. The chorus, meanwhile, feels nostalgic and radiant as open lyrics like “What happened to all the east days of summer/Back when we were younger” and “Radio still blasting, heaven’s everlasting” ascend momentarily above some reverb-drenched instrumentals and some amplified Strings, before Matt Lowell uses some nascent refrains like “If I could bring you back/All I have to do is close my eyes” to complement the beautifully moving, and often cinematic, Chamber-esque melodies. There’s certainly a Talk Talk-like motif to Lowell’s towering vocals here, where the 00’s Brit-Rock elements and the ache of summer nostalgia collide to create an exciting, if a little basic, lyrical theme that we can all relate to. A wholly personal affair that sounds stunning, ‘Dream Never Dies’ is a powerful and poetic piece that will keep you awake.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘A Modern Life’ (LP) (Available from February 25th, 2022) (via Strngr Recordings)

That brings us to the end of another daily post on the blog! Thank you for helping my dream not to die by checking it out, and I’ll be back tomorrow for a new iteration of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ as we revisit a beloved Scottish Experimental Rock band who achieved a cult following with their pioneering brand of ‘Folktronica’ in the late-90’s until disbanding in 1994. The band’s music, and a name-drop of them, was used in a famous scene starring John Cusack as a record shop manager in 2000’s ‘High Fidelity’.

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Today’s Track: The Mushroom Herders – ‘Gainesville Square’

January 20, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘HERE!’ (LP) (Released on December 18th, 2021) (via 2189610 Records DK)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, as per usual, and it’s time for us to invest just a little bit of time into yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A self-described “North Georgia Cat” as per his Bandcamp profile, The Mushroom Herders is the underground indie rock project of singer-songwriter Christopher James Estrada, who has spent time in a few places like Colorado and Atlanta, but has always returned to his “original stomping grounds” of the Northern Georgia area. Introduced to the likes of Cypress Hill, The Offspring and AFI by his close brother at twelve years old, Estrada became enamored with the acoustic guitar and fell in love with genres like the 60’s Psych scene, the 70’s Punk scene and the late-80’s Alternative scene in his young adulthood. He likes to describe his music as “music for the common people” and says he thinks “It’s always been about inspiring others to feel the motivation to create their own world” when reflecting on his own work in recent times. He released his latest LP – ‘HERE’ – on 19th December, 2021 via 2189610 Records DK, a collection of recordings that he’s been producing and writing since 2016. After a few years, he re-discovered the rough recordings on a burned disc in his car and retrieved the files via his PC’s hard drive and, after feeling nostalgic about the length of time the unreleased material has been kicking about, he has decided to publish it for the world. I loved ‘Gainesville Square’ when I first heard it, which gets the music video treatment below.

“Gainesvile Square means a lot to me. There are stomping grounds for me. It’s wild. I first started performing it on the square out of convenience. It didn’t seem to bother anyone that I would play my loud, silly music here”, Estrada says about his productive live experience in the video’s description, adding, “Eventually, I started bringing out actual amplifiers and playing louder music, and even that didn’t seem to bother people, surprisingly. This allowed me to flourish creatively. It gave me an open space to try out weird, strange sounds in the public eye. It allowed me to really discover what I wanted to play and perform for people”, as he comments on the connection between the outdoor environment and musical influences of the track. Kicking off with a modulated vocal sample that progressively gets warped and just surrounds the listener with an atmospheric gloom reflective of the informality of the track’s title location, we soon get a driving drum loop that kicks into gear and raises the tempo with percussive handclaps. The vocals are screwed and chopped, providing a hazy and psychedelic 90’s backdrop for the delayed pedal effects to create a buoyant melody from. The lyrics are difficult to hear in the mix, but the soundscape is detailed with helicopter sound effects and drowsy backing beats that feel a little trippy, continuously adding more intensity to the layered melodies that each reflect the sprawling, open and public setting of the track’s title. A strange groove of playful keyboard riffs and hazy guitar loops is created as the buoyant Synth riffs and the glistening Keys merge together to provide an overall psychedelic shine of production that makes the leading hook of the chorus of “Just sitting around on Gainesville Square” feel very triumphant and not mundane as it may appear on paper, but it feels relaxed and calm because the tone of the rhythms are positive and high-spirited in the mood they evoke. The lyrics are simplistic yet very bright, with sequences like “There’s leaves on the ground, and leaves all around” that describe the scene in a catchy flow, while other lyrics feel more wide-eyed and observational in delivery, as “There’s cars and there’s people too, and there’s me and you” that address you in the second person tense and make you feel more believably absorbed into the scene. Overall, it becomes not only a track about finding cheer and joy in your current surroundings, but a light commentary on the philosophy between making music and where you perform it. By the sounds of it, it is also a location that I really want to visit.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Midnight Outings & Blacklight Showers’ (LP) (Released on August 16, 2011) (Self-Released)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post and giving ‘Gainesville Square’ a few minutes of your time, and I’ll be back tomorrow to celebrate one of the weekend’s most exciting album releases for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ as we mark the debut album release of a Leeds-based indie punk 4-piece who have admittedly featured on the blog a few times before, but there’s a huge air of anticipation about their first LP. They have been supported regularly by BBC Radio 6 Music for the past eighteen months and they are included on BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2022’ poll. I also got the chance to see this band perform live at The Portland Arms (Cambridge) in September.

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New Album Release Fridays: Orlando Weeks – ‘Big Skies, Silly Faces’

January 14, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Hop Up’ (LP) (Released on January 14th, 2022) (via PIAS Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for the long-awaited return of ‘New Album Release Fridays’ for the first time since the new year got off to a natural start as we start to celebrate the year’s strongest new releases as they arrive, not forgetting that it is tied in with my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week sees new album releases from the likes of OUTLIER label founder Bonobo (More on that tomorrow), Odd Future collective rapper Earl Sweatshirt, Liverpool indie dancefloor fillers The Wombats, a new album of refreshing covers by Cat Power and more. Our subject for this week, however, is ‘Hop Up’, the brand new album by Orlando Weeks that has been released via PIAS Recordings today, and it has already been gaining a positive reception from critics. You may know that Weeks was the frontman of The Maccabees, a soulful indie rock band that earned a cult following that seemed to grow steadily with each of their releases throughout the mid-2000’s and 2010’s. The Maccabees won the Ivor Novello Award for 2013’s ‘Pelican’ and their 2015 album ‘Marks To Prove It’ went straight to the top of the UK Album charts. He also wrote and published a book, ‘The Gritterman’, in 2017. It has only been two years since the release of ‘A Quickening’, his first full-length solo album release that tackled the emotions and anticipation that he had experienced during imminent parenthood as his first child was born. Weeks notes this weekend’s follow-up LP – ‘Hop Up’ aims to fill in the gaps of where we left off on the previous record as he writes about the anxieties and excitement of his new-found fatherhood. The album also features a hearty stew of good-sounding collaborators, as ‘Hop Up’ was produced by familiar blog favourite Bullion and it features artists like Willie J. Healey and Ben Reed too. Our first taster of the album, ‘Big Skies, Happy Faces’, also includes additional vocals from Katy J Pearson. Let’s put on a smile below.

Giving us more context into ‘Hop Up’, Weeks explains about the new LP by penning “It started with the idea of wanting to fill in some of the blanks that I felt I had left with ‘A Quickening’, but quite quickly it turned into something broader. The choice was always to take the more positive and uplifting sounding step. Perhaps it shouldn’t have, but as an approach it felt surprisingly novel to me”, in his press release. After his tour was halted in 2020, Weeks decided to go straight back into the studio and found himself in a reflective mood while co-producing Lo-Fi pop singles like ‘Big Skies, Happy Faces’ from the new album in question. Building on the themes that ran through his last LP effort while alleviating the tension that pervaded his last solo release, ‘Big Skies, Happy Faces’ allows us to see the brighter side of parenthood as he ponders lyrics like “No stopping the sky/High as it’s wide” that finds Weeks experiencing new ways to navigate his own way to the light despite the subject matter still feeling a bit cynical and self-loathing to Weeks. Lyrics like “My mind against my better thinking/Know the feeling but wonder why” stretches his voice to optimistic heights as his tale of being self-exultant when the inevitable tensions creep in. Feeling ostensibly late-80’s in the Synth Pop instrumentation and the shimmering keyboard sequences that blend with his vocals, Weeks layers up some elements of Dream-Pop that productively glorify his vocals while he lyrically captures the feelings that he wrote about in the specific time period and complex emotional state with a sense of soulful radiance and moral-driven positivity that still manage to feel ethereal while feeling breezier than Weeks’ previous output. Pearson’s backing vocals are subtle, but they feel warm and contrast the melancholy of Weeks’ slightly eerie pitch quite nicely. While it isn’t super melodic, it manages to feel quite cheerful in tone as the electronic textures feel neatly woven into the fabric of the moods. All in all, it is a positive assessment of burgeoning parenting that acknowledges the anxieties of the scenario while feeling upbeat enough to convey the strong sense of love that Weeks’ felt in the moment. It works better if you have the context of ‘A Quickening’ in your mind, based on my assumptions, but it feels like a natural step-up from the sound he founded on that record. A successful follow-up that denies the dominance of distress.

Pictured: Orlando Weeks in a photoshoot for a DIY Magazine feature (2018) (Photo Credit: Emma Swann)

If you’re looking for high quality with the rule of comparison, then you need to look no further. Look back at my thoughts on ‘Safe In Sound’ from 2020’s ‘A Quickening’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/18/todays-track-orlando-weeks-safe-in-sound/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘A Quickening’ (LP) (Released on June 12th, 2020) (via PIAS Recordings)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you for sticking with me on the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow, as aforementioned, to test out a recent single release from the new LP also being released today by Brighton-born electronic trip hop producer Simon Green (Who you may know as Bonobo) who has worked with an exhaustive pack of guest vocalists including RHYE, Nick Murphy and Jamila Woods.

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Today’s Track: Hard Feelings – ‘Sister Infinity’

December 27, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Hard Feelings’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on November 5, 2021) (via Domino Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and, it’s just about time to go back to normal after Bank Holiday Monday after another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! For my new year’s week coverage this year, we’re going to be looking at some of the off-the-radar music that you may have missed in a year that was otherwise full of new Adele, ABBA, Ed Sheeran, Sam Fender, The Lathums and Billie Eilish album releases that were all very successful. My year-end list counting down my top 25 favourite albums of the year (Split into a few different parts to keep it more short and sweet than last year) will also be coming up your way as soon as possible. The first of my underappreciated suspects is the new collaborative duo of Joe Goddard and New York-based crooner Amy Douglas, who record music together under the project of HARD Feelings. You may know Goddard as a veteran of Hot Chip fame and as one of the busiest guys in the business, having produced new singles for Ibibio Sound Machine and collaborated with Hayden Thorpe in recent months, and he used to be one half of The 2 Bears alongside Raf Rundell. Meanwhile, Amy Douglas is a prominent name in the New York Post-Disco scene having worked with artists like Treasure Fingers, Horse Meat Disco, Luke Solomon and Juan MacLean. Douglas also wrote the single ‘Something More’ for Roisin Murphy’s latest album – ‘Roisin Machine’ – that was released last autumn. Together, Hard Feelings supported Goddard’s bandmates for their first live show on November 9th. They also released their first full-length album – which was self-titled – on November 7th via Domino Recordings. Described by Goddard and Douglas as “an opera of sad bangers”, the pair say the LP is loosely conceptual and, song by song, it focuses on the unraveling of relationships and their nuanced mystery. On the album’s second single and closing track – ‘Sister Infinity’ – the funky dance duo bring up a Sci-Fi twist to Synth Pop. Let’s give it a spin.

The music video for ‘Sister Infinity’, which features the narrative of Joe Goddard communicating with a quirky AI programme to help him conceive the song itself in a dystopian future, was directed by Tim Wagner and inspired by ‘Weird Science’, and the duo say that it “matches the song itself, a Discotastic pulse racing, HI NRG rollercoaster and HARD FEELINGS at our most futuristic and perhaps insidious version of the mad scientist and his creation scenario” in their press release. Flavours in the mix of ‘Sister Infinity’ include the likes of Kraftwerk, Stereolab, CeCe Peniston, Candi Staton and Kylie Minogue to my ears, and their own cited influences of Chaka Khan and Loose Ends feel particularly present on the retro ballad ‘Sister Infinity’, which brings some propulsive Disco tones and a slightly dark variation of moods to the dancefloor. Douglas murkily sings lyrics like “Write my name up in the sky, Seeing that with my third eye, I know you’re always here with me” and “Break my heart either way/I will bend time, where I want it to go” as she contemplates her own ability to be loved and how that stretches her comfort zone beyond a confident point. Meanwhile, the 70’s-leaning Disco synths provide a nostalgic electro-disco beat that bobs between a heartfelt and a heartbroken emotion, while the powerhouse Pipes and the twinkling Drum Machine loops provide some rhythmic, evocative undertones and some latex-polished production for Douglas’ performance to cohere with. It is a little low budget, but it still manages to feel cinematic and broad with it’s sweeping, euphoric Synth melodies. The sound is a little dated, but it certainly has a slick niche and the early New York Synth-Punk sound that Hard Feelings tap into are relatively unexplored in the modern ages, and so it manages to feel refreshing enough while nodding towards ABBA, Diana Ross and Depeche Mode throughout. The production is also very polished, with seamless segues between the different elements at play, giving ‘Sister Infinity’ an immersive and connected feel with its fusion of many Synth-related sub-genre qualities. Overall, I enjoyed how mature that ‘Sister Infinity’ feels overall, and it’s great that Hard Feelings are gaining some popularity from stations like KEXP and BBC Radio 6 Music as we await new releases in the new year because they feel diverse enough to stand out and they have their USP, for a lack of a better term. A distinctive pair who want to create an experience – as opposed to just music.

Pictured: Amy Douglas (Lead Vocals/Guitar/Keyboard) & Joe Goddard (Synths/Producer) (2021) (Photo via PR)

That’s all for now – so I’ll leave you to simply dance the bank holiday away – or just do whatever else that you choose to do as a past time. I’ll see you tomorrow for more musical action as we highlight another very distinctive Alternative Rock trio from Manchester who have supported Razorlight on tour. Earlier this year, they released a new concept album that was accompanied by a 45 minute animation movie that was created by the punk band’s frontwoman, Jess Allanic, using Blender and After Effects.

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