Folk Metal

Scuzz Sundays: Tenacious D – “Tribute”

November 1, 2020 — Leave a comment

All right, let’s take a look at the facts – Shallow Hal still wants a gal. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for "Tenacious D" (Self-Titled LP) (Released: September 25, 2001) (via Epic Records)
    Pictured: Cover Art for “Tenacious D” (Self-Titled LP) (Released: September 25, 2001) (via Epic Records)

You know what time it is! Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m here to type up your new weekly installment in our Scuzz Sundays series, where we dig out an ancient relic from under the marble ground of the Emo Rock and Pop-Punk classics of the decades past, to find out whether they can still hold up to quality and value in today’s era of rock. Actor, Comedian, Singer, Songwriter, YouTube Presenter and all-around likeable guy Jack Black is the cream of the crop when it comes to Hollywood talent. Along with the often praised rock singer-songwriter Kyle Gass, Black set up the Tenacious D side-project so that he could write and perform music with his best friend while he was not too busy keeping us entertained with funny movies like “School Of Rock”, “Shallow Hal” and “Nacho Libre” over the years. I consider myself to be a fan of Black’s work, and the band even got their own R-rated comedy flick, “Tenacious D in The Pick Of Destiny”, in 2006, although it was a Box Office misfire. Back on-topic, I can remember seeing the video for “Tribute” on Scuzz TV, in the early hours of the morning, very clearly as a child. This single came before the movie, and it was released in support of their debut studio album in 2001. It has garnered a huge cult following, and it’s one of the Tenacious D tracks that, at least, have always kept the band in the public eye, to their own merits. “Tribute” failed to make much of a commercial impact in the US, at first – but it has been certified Platinum in Australia, and it has been certified Gold in both the UK and New Zealand. “Tribute” was also the first track that Black and Gass performed together, as Tenacious D, live. The album managed to sell 426,000 copies in the UK, by 2005. Let’s pay “Tribute” to them below.

I’ve got to be honest… The demonic granny with the beaming red eyes at the end of the music video always used to manage to freak me out when I was a child. Liam Lynch directed the videos for both “Tribute” and “Wonderboy”, and they have both attained a strong cult status. “Tribute” is nearly entirely played in A-Minor, and the track’s chord progression is strikingly similar to “Wonderboy”. Written in the form of a comedy rock opera ballad, Black and Gass tell the story of slaying a Demon with the Best song in the world, with Black singing: “Long time ago, me and my brother Kyle here, We was hitchkikin’ down a long and lonesome road” before responding “Okay” to a Demon instructing them to “Play The Best Song In The World” to save their souls. Needless to say, “the Beast was stunned” after they played the Best Song In The World, which Black recites over the top of a heavy Acoustic riff and a clashing Drum beat. The bridge is hook-led and takes influence from Garage-Pop, as Black adds: “Look into my eyes and it’s easy to see/One and one make two, two and one make three/It was destiny” and Gass whips out a more electric-driven guitar solo for the breakdown, as Black concludes: “The song we sang on that fateful night, it didn’t actually sound anything like this song” over the top of a fading drum pattern and the incessant, rich acoustic bass guitar chords. The dynamic between Black and Gass is rather cohesive, and the vocals are delivered with a great deal of enthusiasm. This is a highly comedy-driven track, and so your mileage will likely vary on the humor. For me, it drags on a little, but it lands for the most part. While the claim that it could be “the greatest song in the world” is one that’s subjective – I feel it makes for a fun time.

  • Pictured: Jack Black & Kyle Gass of Tenacious D (in 2018) (Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha/LA Times)
    Pictured: Jack Black & Kyle Gass of Tenacious D (in 2018) (Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha/LA Times)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! After a weekend of special posts, we’re all back to normal tomorrow as we take an in-depth look at some brand new music from a singer-songwriter and poet from London who we have covered on the blog before, and she was included in the BBC’s Sound Of 2020 poll. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Evanescence – “Going Under”

October 11, 2020 — Leave a comment

In 2020, I wonder if there’s any new life yet to be bought to this act. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

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

You know what time of the week it is! Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’ve arrived to type up about your daily track on the blog, as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week’s installment of our Scuzz Sundays, our weekly look back at a late-90’s to mid-00’s classic of the Emo-Rock or Pop-Punk ilk, comes from one of the most commercially popular bands of the era, particularly in the territories of Europe, in the Amy Lee female-fronted Gothic Metal group, Evanescence. The band were formed in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. The band’s first major studio album, “Fallen”, followed a string of independent album releases. It was released in 2003, and it has sold over 17 million copies worldwide (That’s probably thanks to their killer record, “Bring Me To Life”, which is still one of their best-known singles), along with winning Evanescence two Grammy Awards, out of five nominations overall. Although the group have dealt with a few line-up changes and the odd hiatus or two, they are still currently active, and make a killing in territories like Finland and Sweden due to their European “Nu-Metal” style. “Going Under” was a single from “Fallen”, and it reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart. It also reached the top ten of the Billboard US Alternative Chart, and also the top ten of Brazil, Italy and New Zealand as well. Let’s take a listen to it below.

In an interview with MTV News, Amy Lee explained: “The lyrics are about coming out of a bad relationship, and when you’re at the end of the rope, when you’re at the point where you realize something has to change… It’s a very strong song”, and Lee matches these lyrics about “drowning” to the bad arms of a toxic partner with an undeniably hook-driven, Pop sensibility, despite the heavy guitar chords and the soft hip-hop inspired backing beats. Lee takes on a very self-reflective, first-person stance vocally, as she chants: “Drowning in you/I’m falling forever/I’ve got to break through/I’m going under” above an amplified layer of grinding bass guitar riffs and heavy sets of reverberated drum beats, and you’ll find harsh guitar licks in the verses, instead of any twinkling piano melodies. The lyrics play quite heavy on the intensity of love, and the consumption that falling in love can bring to your mental health, as Lee pleads “Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies/So I don’t know what’s real and what’s not” in the verse, before an interlude of echoed synth rhythms signal for a quick post-bridge, before we get a guitar solo which feels very celebratory and anthemic. It mostly feels like everything has been turned up to eleven in volume instrumentally, and for me, well… It actually works really damn well. Lee manages to push quite a well-layered vocal performance throughout the track, and at a time where her male co-horts would often get main production credits when she was doing a lot of the work herself is something worth praising. The anthemic feel of the lead vocals and the guitars together are pretty cheesy, and it gained comparisons to Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit at the time, but again, it manages to feel rather anthemic and enjoyable, instead of cliche or cringeworthy. It’s just Pop, but with heavy chords, and the hooks luckily have the impact needed to flesh it out adequately. To be honest with you, I may usually pick quite a Crap song to cover for the Scuzz Sundays feature because it’s just a bit of fun, so it’s a welcome change of pace to find something that has a bit of value here and I can see why “Going Under” was such a big hit. Good stuff.

  • Pictured: Amy Lee (Lead Vocals/Keyboard), Troy McLawhorn (Lead Guitar), Jen Majura (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Tim McCord (Bass Guitar) and Will Hunt (Drums) (2020) (Photo by Paul Brown)

Thank you for reading your new Scuzz Sundays post! As per usual, we’ll be back to our usual business again tomorrow, with yet another daily track. I’ll be kicking off the new week with an in-depth look at a recent-ish track that I sadly didn’t get around to covering nearer to it’s release. It comes from just a small band from Portland, Oregon in the United States who like to explore “dreamy landscapes” and “hazy memories” through the means of Shoegaze, Alternative Folk and Dream-Rock. Their latest work explores “the unease of modern band life” and “themes of nostalgia and hope” through the ethereal chimes of the band’s vocalist Sarah Nienabar in a packaged-up psychedelic production. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Hole – “Celebrity Skin”

July 5, 2020 — Leave a comment

With her new film career, Love spotted the “Hole” in the world of Fame for this record!

  • Pictured: Courtney Love (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Eric Erlandson (Lead Guitar/Unclean Vocals), Melissa Auf De Maur (Bass Guitar/Co-Producer) and Samantha Maloney (Drums/Percussion) (in 2012) (Photo Credit: Luke Letourneau)

Good Morning, it’s time for another weekly edition of Scuzz Sundays! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and this is the time of the week where we take a look back at an emo-rock or pop-punk classic from between the late-1990’s to the mid-2000’s, to see if it can live up to modern standards! On the chopping block this week is Hole’s “Celebrity Skin”, which became a popular chart hit back in September 1998. The title track from the group’s third studio album, the Californian rock band being famously fronted by Courtney Love, is still Hole’s most commercially successful single to date, and it reached #1 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart and it was placed at #126 of NME’s “150 Best Tracks Of The Past 15 Years” list in late 2011. The style of “Celebrity Skin” is a departure from Hole’s work on their previous two albums, “Pretty On The Inside” (1991) and “Live Through This” (1994), with less emphasis on the Punk and Noise-Grunge of the band’s early work and a higher emphasis on hiring Michael Beinhorn, a new producer, to create a definitive, desert rock-alike “Californian Rock” sound that was more viable for commercial success, particularly in the mainstream rock circuit. The album was very successful, gaining positive reviews and selling over 1.4bn copies in the US alone, as of 2013. Let’s take a listen back to the track “Celebrity Skin” below!

Using a bold range of literary influences including poets T.S. Eliot and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s for songwriting purposes, as well as using a main guitar riff recorded by Billy Corgan, of The Smashing Pumpkins, at a live session, Love released the track in the middle of her uprising film career to convey the track’s lyrical themes of maintaining a public image in the eyes of the media, and the wider observations of an idealized Hollywood. Love opens: “Oh, make me over/I’m all I wanna be/A walking study, in demonology”, in a seamless harmony with the pop-oriented sequences of groove-metal riffs. It transpires to slightly heavier material in the chorus, as Love exclaims: “Hey, I’m so glad you could make it/Yeah, now you’ve really made it/Hey, so glad you could make it now” over the top of an explosive drum part, noisy guitar riffs and dissolved bass guitar hooks. The bridge explores idyllic fashion: “When I wake up in my make-up/It’s too early for that dress/Writed and faded in Hollywood” and the clean post-bridge mocks sexualised modelling: “You better watch out/Oh, what you wish for/It better be worth it/So much to die for” with a polished, fiery emo-punk touch. The track feels slickened by the obvious Smashing Pumpkins-esque guitar framework, and the wider contextual themes of pretty poison, dirty glam and reassured self-loathing feel effective under the very Vegas-like, Desert Rock-inflicted punk sheen. It feels a little overstuffed with backtalk, quotation and the well-documented messiness on the part of Hole’s key collaborators in some parts to work more naturally, but Love’s vocal performance is very strong and I don’t mind the cheesy feel of the angsty guitar riffs too much, as the style meshes with the album’s exploration of themes suitably. It’s a very radio-friendly track that I’m sure you recognize, but it at least has some thought-provoking themes soaked into there. Although I feel the instrumentation choices let it down a little, feeling stiff in places, the songwriting is stronger and it feels polished in the approach of it’s denser context.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Celebrity Skin” (Album) (Released on September 8th, 1998) (via Geffen/DGC Records)

Thank you for reading this post! In regards to #BlackLivesMatter, we endorse the peaceful protests on One Track At A Time. Please go and check your local area for good charity causes that help those directly affected by racism and injustice. I’ll be back to business as usual tomorrow, with an in-depth look at an emerging post-punk dance Synths/Drums duo from the UK indie rock circuit who have been active since 2008, and they recently earned a spot on John Kennedy’s X-Posure weekend evening show playlist on Radio X. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: Nadine Shah – “Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love)”

February 27, 2020 — 2 Comments

She won’t be winning Masterchef with gross dishes like those! It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Kitchen Sink” (Available from 5th June, 2020) (via Infectious Music)

I hope you’re thirsty for new music this Thursday – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, writing about your daily track on the blog, as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! With touring season in it’s midst and summer festival line-up’s being confirmed left, right, front and centre – we’re seeing a lot of very established artists sharing their latest work in promotion of their new albums. Nadine Shah is back and she’s just dropped the single “Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love)” to sample her upcoming return album, which is her fourth LP record, “Kitchen Sink”. She’s set a date for it’s release of June 5th. Although I haven’t personally heard an LP from Shah myself, I’m definitely aware of her status as an Alternative Punk champion in the UK. Shah was born in Whitburn to a mother of Norwegian ancestry and a father of Pakistani descent, and she’s been an activist campaigner over the years for Mental Health, as well as an open endorser of the Labour party, with Shah calling for an end to austerity. I recently saw her as part of the contributors for the British documentary film “Long and Winding Road”, which saw Phillip Selway from Radiohead travelling to several different music venues across the UK during last year’s Independent Venue Week. She’s certainly had a very interesting life so far, which she reflects in her art-punk, folk-rock sound. Let’s see how “Ladies For Babies (Goats For Life)” reflects it – starting off with the video below!

It’s an unusual name for a track, but Shah named it after her brother, who painted a picture of a man embracing a goat with the track’s titular phrase. She’s used it to address a domestic narrative of a husband who patronizes his wife, seeing her only duty as to be a housewife to look after his child. It’s a sense of light sexism and old-fashioned tradition which Shah has decided to creatively explore on her upcoming album. “Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love)” has a disturbingly angry quality to it, Shah vents: “He wants his lady/To be a lady/To care less, be hairless/All he wants in fairness”, over a glitched bass guitar riff and a consistent drum layer, she continues: “Ladies for babies and goats for love/She never could give you enough”, as a short burst of energetic guitar riffs and chanting vocal lines are thrusted into the center of the Blues-inspired, heavy punk sound. Interludes of guitar strums follow, aided by a cold synth line which paves the way for the experimental synth-led instrumentation. This is a deeply-produced art-punk jam with a psychological twist and a message on how far women have come since they were treated unfairly to their husbands in the 1930’s and 1940’s, for instance – and while it hasn’t blown me away like the Arlo Parks or Tawiah tracks did earlier this week, it’s a solid and energetic track with loads to unfold and analyse in depth, with a sonic intrigue that leaves room for interpretation.

  • Pictured: Nadine Shah in a press photoshoot to promote the “Holiday Destination” album (2017) (via PR)

Thank you for reading this post! As usual, I hope you enjoyed it! Tomorrow, I will be celebrating the release of Dan Snaith’s new album, “Suddenly”, his seventh LP overall under his main alias of Caribou, with an in-depth look at the most recent single from the new album – titled “Never Look Back”! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: Bambara – “Sing Me To The Street”

February 20, 2020 — Leave a comment

I’ve never seen Karoake in the high street Boots chemist! It’s time for your daily post!

  • Pictured: Reid Bateh (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar), William Brookshire (Bass Guitar) and Blaze Bateh (Drums) (via PR)

Good morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke, writing about your daily track on the blog, a duty which I always intend to fulfill. “Sing Me To The Street” is a single that comes courtesy of Bambara, an American Post-Punk Revival band who have been championed by the likes of BBC Radio 6Music and KEXP in recent months, with “Serafina” becoming part of the A-list of my student radio station. The band have just released their fifth LP record, “Stray”, last weekend to a breadth of positive reviews from music critics and rabid gig-goers. For background purposes, Bambara were formed in Georgia in 2001, but the group are now based in Brooklyn, New York, with the group being established through their heavy guitar riffs and their experimentation with synth machines, drum loops and digital analogue hardware. The narrative of “Stray” follows the isolation and spiritual allure of night city streets, which have a hundred stories to tell. Let’s watch the music video for “Sing Me To The Street” below.

A tailored Southern Goth sound is immediately created through a stretched drum loop while “Sing Me To The Street” begins with a melancholic, caustic swing of shimmy-doused samba percussion and a discernibly Baritone bass guitar riff. Reid Bateh, the lead vocalist, croons: “I keep thinking/Shifting in my sleep/Sirens in the distance/Sing me to the street” to accompany the ghostly presence of the ethereal backing noises. With a ghostly aesthetic, he later recites: “The show’s empty/Except the guy I always see/He creeps up and asks me/If I’ve heard what’s happening?”, the other character responds: “You know Cole was murdered/Just about one year back/Well, Claire had their baby/And tonight she drowned it in the Bath”, an electric wave of rock instrumentation washes over the lifeless vocals of Bateh, who closes off the track with: “I’ll call you nothing” as the backing vocals of a choir pant for air and quietly howl to the atmospheric, depressing imagery of the storytelling. For me, it sounds like Bateh is really trying to sound like Nick Cave, creating his “The Birthday Party” dirty punk roots for a new generation and I think there’s a few moments in the track where it almost works, due to the clear Americana style and the old-school context of the Cohen-like sensibilities. It gets matched by a sultry atmosphere which is crafted by the haunting, deep vocals and a glimmer of Brass instrumentation, leading the track to sound fairly inspired – although I don’t think the Drum parts resonate very much. Here’s the thing: It seems like Bambara are another act closely following the current “boom” period of raw, aggressive punk bands like Idles, Fontaines DC and The Murder Capital – and Bambara, for me, doesn’t quite do enough to stand out from these peers. However, these kind of bands don’t appeal to me because I’m not a part of the world they’re creating artistic coverage for, so the track puts me in the odd position where I feel I can’t judge if it’s a good or bad record.

  • Pictured: Bambara perfoming a live gig at Hyde Park Boot Club in London (2019) (Photo Credit: Ryan Bell)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as always, with an in-depth look at the freshly squeezed track from an Australian Plunderphonics duo who are collaborating with Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) on their first LP in four years… at least it didn’t take 16 years to make this one! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Nightwish – “Wish I Had An Angel”

February 2, 2020 — Leave a comment

An angel would be nice, but I wish I had a clear plan for what I’m going to do after I graduate from my university course in summer! It’s time for your Scuzz Sundays post!

  • Pictured: Tarja Turunen (Lead Vocals), Marco Hietela (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar), Tuomas Holopainen (Keyboard/Piano/Synths), Emppu Vuorinen (Lead Guitar) and Jukka Nevalainen (Drums) (2004 Band lineup – taken from the official Nightwish website)

It’s the end of Dry January and another cold working week here in the UK, which also means that it’s time for your weekly emo/rock/punk 90’s or 00’s throwback track as part of the aptly titled Scuzz Sundays theme on the blog. I’m Jacob Braybrooke, as always, taking you back to the simpler times of Scuzz TV as I revisit some of the tracks that I used to listen to during the days of Scuzz TV’s existence. “Wish I Had An Angel”, by the Finnish Symphonic Metal band Nightwish, is this week’s Scuzz Sunday track. It was the second single taken from their fifth studio album, “Once”, released back in September 2004 via the Spinefarm label. The eleventh single for the band, “Wish I Had An Angel” reached #60 on the UK Singles Chart upon it’s original release, becoming the band’s most commercially successful single to date, a title which it still holds to this very day. It gained popularity in the mainstream after it was featured on the soundtrack for the 2005 film, “Alone In The Dark”, loosely based on a video game series which I’m not personally familiar with at all. Let’s revisit the music video below.

Interestingly, the video above is an alternate cut of the official music video, as the original version featured scenes taken from the “Alone In The Dark” film, which were later edited out from the video – reportedly due to the overwhelmingly negative critical response to the film. In any case, it’s still a fantastic video full of all the Gothic coats, black smeared mascara and close-up angles that you could muster. Then-vocalist Tarja Turunen and bassist Marco Hietala provide duelling vocals, extravagantly chiming: “I wish I had your angel for one moment of love/I wish I had your angel tonight” over a frantic line of heavy guitar riffs and a rough pre-orchestra instrumentation. They contemplate the pain of beauty: “Last dance, first kiss/Your touch my bliss/Beauty always comes with dark thoughts”, crooned as an operatic hook by Turnunen, along with Hietela’s sighing: “I wish I had your angel/Your Virgin Mary undone/I’m in love with my lust/Burning angel wings to dust” over a symphonic composition of techno-groove metal. The instrumentation is also very orchestral, with minimal keyboard riffs, as the sound heavily features violin strings and cello arrangements, with a choral vocal hook in the background. The overall result is a progressive dark rock anthem which functions as an operatic ballad, with the male vocals and the female vocals constantly going back and forth to tell the story of taking your lust to a very dark place in your mind and how it’s easy to fall victim to this mentality as a rival. The guitar chords are punchy and the drums sound a little bit processed, which gives off slight vibes of Evanescence, who were enjoying the peak of their popularity within the same era. Overall, the sound may be a little bit Eurovision, perhaps, with a hint of cheese overfest. However, the duet vocal performance is very engaging and the instrumentation is heavy enough to justify the heightened sense of the pacing, format, composition and songwriting. As cold as ice but as solid as a rock!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Once” (June 2004) (Spinefarm Records) (Nuclear Blast Records)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with an in-depth look at the brand new track from an animated British band, led by a former Blur member, who notably won the “Best British Group” award at the BRIT Awards in 2018! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/