Folktronica

Today’s Track: Maia Friedman – ‘First To Love’

March 21, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Under The New Light’ (LP) (Released on 11th March 2022) (via Last Gang Records)

Good Morning to you! This is hard-working writer and aspiring radio producer Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has finally come for me to keep your ears entertained by 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! Maia Friedman was already a skilled vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter before she even embarked on a solo career, as you may already know Friedman from her roles in the Brooklyn-based indie rock bands Dirty Projectors and Coco. Growing up in the Sierra national forest region of the Central California area with her father (a film editor) and her mother (a Jungian Psychoanalyst), Friedman began learning how to play instruments at a very young age and she has since become a big part of her local music scenes for her various roles in musical projects including Toebow, Bobby and Uki Ika Ai – as she joked to Melody Maker in an interview, “Collaborating gives me the juice”, a few weeks ago. Her latest full-length album – ‘Under The New Light’ – finds Friedman undertaking the role of a spiritual comforter and a serene healer for the listener, where she tackles the deep contrast between topics such as intimacy and growth, and light and darkness, throughout the duration of the long-awaited solo record. She began working on the material four years ago as she balanced putting the track listing together with her duties of being a music teacher in New York. Dan Molad, her fellow band-mate from Coco, helped her to produce the album. Additional work also came by way of her collaborators Tom Deis and Peter Lalish. Check out the single – ‘First To Love’ – below.

‘First To Love’ is given even deeper meanings by the aid of the Joshua Kilcoyne-directed music video, and Maia Friedman says of the new cut, “It is a humbling privilege to love someone in all their humanness and imperfection, to not only support but celebrate them through their journey of growth and exploration, to be by their side as they evolve into new versions of themselves”, adding that her lyrics roughly translate to, “I will love even the deepest layers of who and what you are. A question I pose to myself is, what if this person were me?”, in her press statement. Her ethereal track starts off with glitched Synths that replicate the sound of a heart monitor of a hospital to my mind, a polished sequence which runs throughout the track, and they are softly set against the backdrop of a warmly acoustic guitar melody and a soft bassline. Lyrics like “Look as the clouds pass overhead/I will count them until the daylight ends” and “Wait as the roots find their way/They’ll grow deeper with each passing day” are softly spoken and they carry the verses with a low-lit and wide-eyed tone. The chorus features more swooping and direct refrains like “Peel away/Keeping me up through the night” and “Escape/Be whatever you like” that position Friedman in a unique sense of directly addressing you as her audience, with the details of her personal situations feeling a little enigmatic in favour of giving you a space of reflection and free-wheeling tranquility as a listener. I feel like these more Folk-inspired sections recalls the cinematic soundtrack style of her work in Coco, but it goes quite far beyond an ‘Expansion Pack’ mentality of that sound as the intriguing electronic textures and the whimsical Classical influences of the serene vocals feel different enough to her material with those other projects. Overall, ‘First To Love’ is a bit of a slow burn, but it builds up to a nice sense of energy and it has a strong emotive core that is filled with wistfully produced Strings and warm Dream-Pop instrumentation that placed an emphasis on the most smallest and profound aspects of what it means to be a human and the details of subjects like sensuality and touch with an in-depth contrast that finds her striking out sturdily, as a relatable songwriter.

Pictured: Maia Friedman in Coco (along with Dan Molad & Oliver Hill) (2021) (Photo Credit: Stella Hartmann)

If you’d like to hear some of the magic that Maia has created in Coco – look no further.

‘Last Of The Loving’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/22/todays-track-coco-last-of-the-loving/

‘Come Along’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/12/06/todays-track-coco-come-along/

Pictured: Cover Art for Coco’s ‘Last of The Loving” (Single) (Released on 4th August, 2020) (via FCA Records)

That brings me to the end of the page for another day! I have little else to say, other than to thank you for checking out what I had to share with you for today, as your support is always highly appreciated by me. I’ll be back tomorrow to review one of the promotional singles from an imminent album being put out by a TrumsØ-formed Progressive House and Dark Ambient duo whose achievements include two Grammy Awards nominations, some worldwide tour performances, and a Robyn collaboration.

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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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New Album Release Fridays: Helado Negro – “Outside The Outside”

October 22, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Far In’ (LP) (Released on October 22nd, 2021) (via 4AD)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘New Album Release Fridays’ is the time of the week where we unbox one of the most exciting new LP releases of the weekend, and this week’s line-up includes plenty of options to choose from. The likes of Elton John, Self Esteem, HONNE, JPEGMafia, Parquet Courts, Biffy Clyro and Don Broco are all releasing new albums today, but, for me, the Miami-born and New York-based Nu-Disco producer Helado Negro (the main alias of Roberto Carlos Lange) is the little artist who could. You may recognize his voice from ‘Close’, the closing track of Colombian electronic music producer Ela Minus’ album ‘Acts Of Rebellion’, which he was featured on last year. As a solo artist, Lange won the United States Artists’ Fellow In Music in 2019 and he was later the recipient of the 2019 Grants To Artists Award from the Foundation For Contemporary Arts. He was also the winner of the Joyce Foundation in 2015, so there’s plenty of critical acclaim under his belt. Lange has been producing a significant amount of musical and visual art work since he first became active in 2009 through various aliases, and he’s known for his non-conventional approaches to Avant-Pop while also expressing his Latinx identity and his pluralistic sensibilities. 2021’s ‘Far In’ is his seventh full-length solo album, and it is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘This Is How You Smile’ and 2016’s ‘Private Energy’, as well as his first record to be issued on the 4AD label. Born to Ecuadorian immigrants, the record explores his childhood anxieties of feeling like an outsider in his family’s community, and his road to finding a sense of belonging. Lange simply said, “Escape is never out there, you have to look inward”, in a press release. The notable single ‘Outside The Outside’ is married beautifully to a music video consisting of camcorder footage of his family’s South Florida house parties of the 1980’s, so let’s give it a listen.

“This is a song about intimate partnerships and long-loving friendships. To be loyal freaks and an outsider amongst outsiders”, he says about the standout single ‘Outside The Outside’, while adding, about the video, “My family came to this country as outsiders looking for and finding community. People would come to our house and bond through music, family and dancing. They usually began at 8 PM and lasted until 5 AM”, he says of the guests who would stay up all night to dance the Salsa or Merengue, before he concluded, “I used to wake up and it would be 7 AM in the morning and people would still be downstairs drinking”, with a laugh in a recent interview. I think it’s fair to say that this particular concept is alien to us Brits, and so ‘Outside The Outside’ does a great job of creating a late-night vibe with an infectious groove and calling to mind the alienation that Lange struggled handling when he was being raised as a South Florida native despite his rich descent. Lyrics like “There we were/Up all night/Terrified, kissing you twice” and “They were mine/Changed my life, I forgot to show you why” feel hushed and intoned, while the electronic Synths warping around these words feel Lo-Fi and Minimalist in production. The chorus is a simple one, while a touch of introspection touches the other lyrics, as if Lange is reminiscing over the innocence that he also used to feel at the parties while growing up, as he uses lyrics like “Because my world only opens/When your world comes in” to demonstrate these emotions, and discuss how a group of lost souls coming together has formed close relationships. While the lyrics are well-written and inspired enough, it’s also the instrumentation and production that makes the track come together so strongly like it does. The track has a dance music feel, yet it goes for a more reflective and nostalgic tone instead of a swooping and euphoric one, not relying on dancefloor-ready builds and festival-friendly basslines, and instead going for something more subdued and hushed. It feels like a nice platform for Lange’s crooning vocals to create a variety of moods from, while the glistening Disco melodies and the spiraling percussion feels melodic enough to dance along to, whether as a casual listener or a hardcore fan of his work. Overall, ‘Outside The Outside’ is a cracking single that confidently captures the feelings of fostering an environment that feels supportive and comfortable that have shaped the inspiration of Lange’s new album, and the only light we see is that of a dangling Disco ball on the house’s ceiling.

  • Pictured: Helado Negro performing for GRAMMY’s ‘Press Play At Home’ series (2021) (Photo via PR)

That is all for today! Thank you very much for joining me, and I’ll be back for more musical musings tomorrow. We’ll be listening to the latest single from the quirky indie New Zealand Psych-Pop group Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who have teamed up with the puppeteer of The Muppets and Sesame Street to produce their latest music video.

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Today’s Track: Sans Soucis – “On Time For Her”

September 30, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Sans Soucis in an official photoshoot for ‘I’m On’ (2021) (Photo via PR/GetInHerEars.com)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for yet another daily track because, as you’ve already guessed, it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It looks like you’re right on time for ‘On Time For Her’, the main title track of the debut EP from the brand new Neo-Soul/Avant-Pop singer-songwriter Sans Soucis. She is a London-based songstress of original Italian-Congolese heritage who moved to the UK at the age of 20. Her new EP – which was self-released last Friday – explores the end of a traumatic period of depression for Sans Soucis, caused by racial issues and childhood anxiety. This short-form project tackles her search for identity in Western society and her challenges of finding her authentic self, set to some soft Synth-led backdrops that are built upon a goal of “effortlessly blending the sounds of Congolese Rumba, Electronic, R&B and Alt-Pop with her perceptive lyricism” according to the official Sans Soucis website. The irony is that her creative alias of Sans Soucis is taken from her childhood nickname for “Carefree”. She is also notably part of the iluvlive Artist Development scheme, an initiative designed to support new artists to further their careers through their platform and networks. Check out her latest single below.

Sans Soucis’ real name is Giulia Grispino (Which is the Italian version of the English name for Julia) and her new EP is a life-affirming statement for her development. She tells us, “Regardless of how proficient you can be in a foreign language, it does take time for you to authentically convey your personality through it”, explaining, “Understanding culture and feeling in a foreign country can leave a person in limbo for a few years of their life and that’s what happened to me”, in her press notes. Luckily for Soucis, her music has received well-deserved praise from publishers like Wonderland, The Fader, BBC Radio 6 Music, Clash, Spotify’s New Music Friday, BBC Introducing London, The Line Of Best Fit, and a handful of others online. ‘On Time For Her’ feels more like a relaxing massage to your eardrums than a particularly harsh exploration of tense human introspection, with Soucis reciting her poetic lyrics with a tone of an unfurling, crystalline shaping. Her breathy, spacious vocals are given plenty of time to sink into your ears nicely with a radiant feel, with a warm sense of breeze being created by the stilted backing vocals. It is unclear if the backbeat is formed from a sample or a purely looped vocal originally created by Soucis, but it feels rather eclectic in terms of genre and it adds some entrancing warmth to the proceedings. The instrumentals are woven together by a multi-layered array of Staccato effects and tuneful Synths, which creates a nice sense of intimacy and vulnerability when the more ethereal vocal arrangements – within the chorus – begin. The lyrics are quite introspective, yet ambiguous, with a Lo-Fi Hip-Hop style of delivery that allows sequences like “No answer if you don’t look right” and “Feast in the darkness, sing alone” that imply some themes of displacement and self-security, and the titular refrain of ‘On Time For Her’ evokes the meaning of being committed to doing right by your own standards. Overall, this made for a lovely listen. I don’t think we’re quite there yet in making the instrumentation a little more interesting, but this is some feedback that Soucis will build upon constructively as her time goes on. The track feels hard to really box into a specific genre, and that is really appealing to me. I think that she simply has a very nice voice as well, and her perspectives on living in Western society as a foreign native allows her to convey a diverse variety of emotions. A rich combination of 00’s Bjork and Fana Hues – which is a kind compliment by itself.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘On Time For Her’ (EP) (Released on September 24th, 2021) (via Self-Released)

Thank you for reading my latest blog post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at one of the weekend’s most hotly tipped new album releases for the ‘New Album Release Fridays’. This week, we’re tasting the debut LP release from a Brooklyn 5-piece who have gained serious popularity from NME and BBC Radio 6 Music in recent months. Brooklyn Vegan calls them one of New York’s “hardest working and most reliably fun bands”. They’ve even opened up stages for Beck and James Chance.

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Today’s Track: Crumb – “Trophy”

July 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

I won’t be winning any trophies for the puns that I have for my slogan. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Ice Melt’ (LP) (Released on April 30th, 2021) (via Crumb Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and we’re picking up the pace with 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! Thursday’s tune comes to you from the Brooklyn-based musicians Crumb, a female-led indie Psych-Rock quartet led by Lila Ramani. The group have garnered huge support from critics since forming in 2016, with Paste Magazine describing their sound as a meld of “60s Psych, loose Jazz, and freeform Indie Rock into a soothing Pop amalgamation”. The 4-piece band met while studying at Tufts University on the Northern borders of Medford and Somerville in Massachusetts in the US, before they started to divide their time between Boston and New York, distributing their first two EP’s with limited vinyl runs and cassette stock released by DIY label Citrus City Records. The band have now gone fully independent, self-releasing their latest LP, ‘Ice Melt’, this past April via Crumb Records. The follow-up to 2019’s ‘Jinx’, their second full-length record was allegedly named after the blend of coarsely ground salts used to dissipate ice on your front steps, by absorbing water and giving off heat, that you can get in US hardware shops. Check out ‘Trophy’ below.

The mysterious Dark-Pop band have enlisted the help of Haoyan Of America to direct the music video for ‘Trophy’, a surrealist visual affair that seems to tap into something supernatural aesthetically for the surrealist quality of the music itself, as the skewed rock elements of the track are paired with opening visuals of an award ceremony, a jolt through a racers’ podium, and a monstrous bunch of animated, living trophies singing away. It’s a suitable accompaniment to the enigmatic sound of ‘Trophy’ itself, which reminds me of the 00’s ‘Chillout’ compilations of slowed down dance remixes and some reworked popular culture songs that my grandmother rarely used to buy. Ramani’s lead vocals have a slow, gliding effect where the use of echo and reverb tell a wistful tale about, as she sings, a “deadbeat tour loner”, in her own words. The soft Keyboard riffs, the electric Jazz/Rap-leaning instrumental bassline, and the persistent Cymbal melodies give the sound an uplifted, yet whimsical and slightly Dark element. Like the most strange dream that you could occasionally have, there is only a sort-of logical sense to things, with a slick 90’s Avant-Rock sound which combines relaxed electronics and deep guitars in a way that feels soothing on the surface, but begins to show a more haunting side as you settle deeper. The lyrics, with a cryptic series of quotes like “The test it came back said you’re prone to, Chew yourself right to the bone, I guess you don’t like to be alone” and “Take your time ’cause it’s all over/You’re a deadbeat doll loner” add an airy harmony to the gradually evolving field, but there’s also a gently irreverent sense of humor to them, as they pay homage to Math-Rock and Prog-Rock with their tongue set firmly in their cheek at brief times. Finally, the distorting vocals of the post-bridge go for a rougher and Grunge-influenced edge. On the whole, it’s an intriguing mix of 90’s Alt-Rock songwriting and a loosely springing effect of instrumentation that tickles the cells of your brain as the studio-tinkered chords craft up a dread-filled space around you, and it’s working very well, which is mostly down to Ramani’s reserved, nocturnal vocals and a decent sense of chemistry between the band in connecting their ideas. An auditory feast for your pillow at night.

  • Pictured: Lila Ramani (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Jesse Brotter (Bass Guitar/Unclean Vocals), Bri Aronow (Keyboard/Saxophone) and Jonathan Gilad (Drums/Percussion) (2019) (Photo by Shan Khan)

That’s it for another day! Just like always, it’s ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow, and so we will be tasting one of this weekend’s biggest new album releases, and so please get caught up with me on the site then for more recommended listening. Eight years in the making, this week’s top album pick marks another collaboration in the unlikely side project of the very prolific Chilean-American composer Nicolas Jaar and the Brooklyn-born multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington from the Psych band ARMS.

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Today’s Track: Villagers – “The First Day”

June 3, 2021 — Leave a comment

Cudillero. Maribor. Shirakawa. Beautifal villages which nobody knows. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Fever Dreams” (LP) (Available from August 20, 2021) (via Domino Recordings)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for you to read your daily track on the blog, as always, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I’ve got some brand new music to share with you, and this one reminded me of Sigur Ros and Fleet Foxes. ‘The First Day’ is the new single from Villagers – an Irish indie folk band from Dublin who, although I’m not massively familiar with them besides from ‘Trick Of The Light’, have been critically acclaimed over the years. Their resume includes Mercury Prize, Ivor Novello Awards, Q Awards, Choice Music Awards and Digital Socket Awards wins and nominations. They have also been on the touring circuit with Tracy Chapman, Grizzly Bear and Elbow. Their fifth studio album, ‘Fever Dreams’, has been added to the album release schedule, with a confirmed release date of August 20th for the Domino-signed new release. It follows the 2018 effort, ‘The Art Of Pretending To Swim’, and Villagers will be taking themselves on a UK tour to locations like Brighton, Nottingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, and Cambridge in October. Check out ‘The First Day’ below.

“I had an urge to write something that was as generous to the listener as it was to myself”, the band’s leading vocalist Conor O’Brien said on the escape and journey themes of the new record, adding, “Sometimes, the most delirious states can produce the most ecstatic, euphoric and escapist dreams”, to his press release. Villagers also worked with director Daniel Brereton on the music video for ‘The First Day’, who were able to shoot the video with him on-set with casting and styling. The video is a great compliment to the track, with a black-and-grey filter matched by a disorienting mix of jumbled vocals soon paving the way for a ray of sunshine and light as soon as the warmer tones begin to emerge. The melodies are absorbing and kind, with a reflective Falsetto effect that gives the vocals a hand-painted quality. O’Brien is singing about “It’s like falling in love, on the first day of the rest of your life” as the cheerful hook is delivered over the top of a floating Brass instrumental and a choral backing vocal, after a pre-bridge that lets twinkling keyboard riffs and romanticized moods to carry the mood along. The verses are more psychedelic, with lines like “Feels like soft rain/feels like a sweet rhyme” and “Feels like a riverboat as it takes you to the sea/Feels like floating on the essence of a dream” that are delivered poetically, and with gentle chords, with a mix of Strings, and even an IDM-like synth line that crackles beneath the arrangement at spaced points, with an overall Folk-rooted song structure that keeps the band’s main genre explorations intact. Considering that I hadn’t heard much of Villagers before, I found myself very pleasantly suprised by this. The overall context and meaning is joyful, but vague, and so it’s easy for listeners to associate the bright emotions in different personal lights – like a wedding day, a graduation, or the jolly end of a tiresome pandemic, to name a few ideas. In any case, it’s lovely. The instrumentation is varied enough to keep the repetition of the hooks interesting, and it’s a brightly coloured adventure that celebrates the joys of living through a cinematic lens. It reminds me of American Authors ‘Best Day Of My Life’, but less one-note and more sonically developed. As Jim Carrey would say, its B-E-A-utifal.

  • Pictured: Conor O’Brien (Lead Vocals), Tommy McLaughlin (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Danny Snow (Bass Guitar), Cormac Curran (Keyboard) and James Byrne (Drums) (2013) (Photo by Rich Gilligan)

That’s all for now! Feel free to join me tomorrow as we delve deep into one of the weekend’s most notable new album releases. Head of the pack this time comes from a UK student radio favourite who makes her latest appearance on the blog to co-incide with the release day of her long-awaited new album. The self-described ‘Psychedelic R&B’ progressor who recently made her television debut in an episode of ‘Later… With Jools Holland’ on BBC Two. 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/

New Album Release Friday: Julien Baker – “Hardline”

February 26, 2021 — Leave a comment

Could this Baker’s dozen have done with a bit more time in the oven? New Post Time!

  • Pictured: Julien Baker performing in an Isol-Aid livestream (2020) (Photo via TheLineOfBestFit.com)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and, as per usual, it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as it’s routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! It’s New Release Friday – and this week’s line-up looks pretty stacked. On paper, we’ve got the return of underrated Geordie’s Maximo Park (More on that tomorrow!), the first new album release in a decade from Instrumental Jazz ensemble Menahan Street Band, a bright new EP from Deap Vally, a neat new collection from Acoustic Singer-Songwriter Lucy Spraggan, and a few others. To many music lovers, however, the most anticipated new LP release this week comes from the Tennessee-born Alternative Folk singer-songwriter Julien Baker, whose third studio record, “Little Oblivions”, is out today via Matador Records. This 12-track production has been absolutely hyped to the hills since “Hardline” was released as the lead single by the internet music community, and Baker is really tipped to be one of 2021’s biggest break-out artists after showing promise in her earlier material – similarly to the way that Phoebe Bridgers found huge success with “Punisher” last year, which may be no coincidence seeing that Baker and Bridgers, along with Lucy Dacus, used to be a part of the trio Boygenuis. The stop-motion video for “Hardline” was directed by Joe Baughman. Let’s see what the fuss is about below.

An LGBT artist, Baker is known for her somber and emotional work, which has been informed by her run-in’s with Christianity in the time of her upbringing, and the new album deals with themes of spirituality, addiction, mental health and human interaction. It is also her first album to have a full “backing bound” sound, with Baker touching on the inspirations behind the “Hardline” and it’s video by noting: “I don’t know why I have the impulse to write songs or make tiny sculptures out of plane tickets. But here it is anyway: A bunch of things I’ve collected and carried with me that I’ve re-organized into a new shape” in the earlier press notes for the track. These ideas of re-shaping an experience into something more useful is a common thread for “Hardline” to bounce off, as the bass-led opening feels violent to a point, before the track feels more soothed when Baker’s vocals enter the fray. The lyrics are very plentiful, with long verses that frequently touch on questioning yourself and contemplating the trust you have for others. The most striking lyric, for me, is when Baker croons: “For all the future things I will destroy” under a light bed of electronics, before the arrival of a more restrained bridge, leading into “Til then I split the difference/Between medicine and poison” until the tempo increases and the crackling Synth melodies begin to monitor a sound reminiscent of a heart monitor in a hospital. “I can see where this is going, But I can’t find the brake” seems to be the cue point for the heavy instrumentals to become more aggressive, before we slowly build to the end where Baker sings “Took it farther/Draw a hardline/When I cross it/It’s the third time” as the softer and more acoustic guitar instrumentation trades places with the crying qualities of the synths. It becomes quite a stressful experience to listen to at times, with hard subject matter of intoxicating themes of alcohol complementing the avalanche nature of the drums and the rumbling of the Organ-like instrumentals. It never really feels like these elements are battling for control, however, as the lyrics feel expansive and internalized, and I think it’s good overall. This is really one of my first experiences with Baker, but I think she connects with modern LGBT culture in a way that feels authentic. Although it sounds very cliche to write, it is very powerful. The production feels expressive and unsullied by auto-tune. Maybe a bit intense for some, but there’s a chance it may really grow on me over time.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Little Oblivions” (Released on February 26th, 2021) (via Matador Records)

Well, that’s the end of another week! “Scuzz Sunday” takes place in a mere 48 hours or so, but, before then, as hinted towards earlier in the post, we’re going to be taking a look at some brand new stuff from Maximo Park’s new album tomorrow. The Geordie Alternative Rock band were nominated for the Mercury Prize with their debut album, “A Certain Trigger”, in 2005. Since then, the now-trio have recorded six more albums – two of which have achieved Gold certified sales here in the UK. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Way Back Wednesdays: Bibio – “Cantaloup Carousel”

February 10, 2021 — Leave a comment

Over two decades on, is there still fun to be had at this fairground? Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Fi” (LP) (Originally released in 2005) (via Mush Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up your weekly pre-00’s throwback as we do right here on Wednesdays, because it’s routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! “Cantaloup Carousel” was released in 1999, and so it only just falls before the deadline of our Wednesday flashbacks, but I’m counting it. After all, I’m the one writing this. You’re not going to report me to the music police, are you (Or those little boycott gremlins who hang around on websites like Metacritic) I hope not. Anyways, this track is thought to be the first music recording to ever be produced by Bibio (aka English folktronica multi-instrumentalist Stephen James Wilkinson), which eventually landed a spot on the track listing of his debut album, “Fi”. At the time of the late-90’s, Bibio produced the track in his prison ce… (I mean, bedroom) of his university halls of residence in Wood Green, North London – using just a budget sampler, a casette desk and a “cheap plastic microphone” in his own words. Later re-released on his first solo album in 2005, on his self-release label Mute Records, the album was later re-issued and digitally remastered on vinyl by his current label, Warp Records, in 2015, to mark 10 years since the original release. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics at the time, and Bibio has later become known to expand his influences by tapping into sub-genres like Instrumental Hip-Hop, Alternative R&B, Neo-Soul and Indietronica in the years since. Now a very prolific artist, let’s cast our minds to his beginnings below.

“My approach back then was trying to make layered guitar compositions”, Bibio said on Fi’s reissue, “but the lack of professional recording equipment (or know-how) led to this lo-fi sound – a sound which started to feel like a signature and one I started to feel quite excited about”, before ending on, “It’s such a great feeling to see this album finally come out on Warp 10 years after it’s initial release. My younger self would have been blown away”, when talking about the album’s restoration. It’s evident that Bibio was interested in creating a sound of his own to build upon, but there’s still a playful and subversive edge to the character of this release. The style feels very well-rounded, very smooth and quite minimalist. There’s no vocals being recorded by Bibio for this offering, and the narrative arc of-sorts is instead being led by a piano piece. There’s also a light acoustic guitar strum that repeats throughout the duration of the track, along with some deceptively simple four-chord riffs and a very subtle Synth line that lurks in the background. The most striking element of the track is probably the toy-box like quality of the acoustic instrumentation. The simple and cheerful guitar melodies feel unaltered and child-like, and untouched by any artifice whatsoever. It also gives off a theme of nature and forests, with basic production practices that make me picture playing outside with my friends as a small child, and having a joyful time out of that. It doesn’t feel hugely electronic at all, but the time signatures are constantly peaking and retreating, followed by a leading guitar beat that alternates through this soundscape of speed alterations. It allows room for slight adjustments to the tedious melodies, creating a warm and absorbing atmosphere. It was produced with a very low-budget, and the technology obviously feels dated now. However, it’s an interesting entry point into the work of Bibio for newcomers. It’s true that there’s a limited bag of tricks here, and the feel of invention may be lost underneath the hypnotic effects, but the simplicity allows Bibio to experiment to the full, and it undeniably gave him a platform in which to fully firm-up his inspirations together. Overall, despite its sense of dated-ness and being possibly too tedious for some listeners, it holds up pretty well as the solid jump-off point it would prove to be.

  • Pictured: Bibio (aka Stephen James Wilkinson) in a PR shoot for “Ribbons” (2019) (via Warp Records)

You can take a breather now – that’s all I have got for you today! Regular service resumes again tomorrow, as you would probably expect, and I’ve got some brand new music to share with you then. Tomorrow’s track is an excellent new piece recorded by an emerging 21-year-old Indie-Pop and “Bedroom Pop” singer-songwriter who has recently gained traction on social media and streaming platforms since the release of her debut EP in 2018. So far, her latest track – about an intergalactic crush – has amassed over 10 million streams, and landed a spot on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Charts in the US. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Bullion – “Thirty Two”

February 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

A Bullion of silver – let’s see if this music is worth it’s weight in gold! New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Heaven Is Over” (Released on September 25, 2020) (via Jagjaguwar Records)

Good Afternoon – I’ve just seen the Royal Rumble, and that means it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We’re kicking off the new month with a familiar face to the blog – and one of the releases that you might have missed in 2020. We’ve covered Bullion’s work once before – and this is the electronic music alias for NTS Radio host Nathan Jenkins, who largely self-produces his own material from his studio in West London. The follow up to the “We Had A Good Time” EP, which released at the very beginning of last year, was the “Heaven Is Over” EP, a little release that I would really recommend for it’s subversive, Warp Records-esque production tools. Under his pseudonym, Jenkins has released a multitude of work for the Young Turks, R&S, The Trilogy Tapes and Jagjaguwar Records companies. During his time-frame, Jenkins has also established himself in the European dance scene, where he’s lived in Lisbon, Portugal for a number of years. My eyes were really drawn to this beautiful fan-made video to his track, “Thirty Two”, which was uploaded onto YouTube last October by TRUTH CRAB, with the Japenese anime’ visuals being taken from Ai Monogatari’s 90’s mini-series, “9 Love Stories”. Let’s take the beauty in below.

“Thirty Two” was, indeed, taken from the “Heaven Is Over” EP from Bullion – which got it’s digital release last September, and a physical 12″ vinyl release followed that December. I’d say it would have made for a brilliant Stocking filler at yuletide time – and the five-track EP was also released as a part of the “Friends Of” project – which was launched, then, as a joint initiative between the Jagjaguwar Records, Secretly Canadian and Dead Oceans label to provide financial support for independent artists affected by the difficulties of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Jenkins also kept himself busy throughout the year by producing Westerman’s debut solo album, “Your Hero Is Not Dead”, along with collaborating with Sampha and Talking Heads’ David Byrne. Even though “Thirty Two” was never officially released as a single, I think it’s still a solid reflection of the 80’s euphemisms and the self–quoted “Pop, Not Slop” attitudes that Jenkins brings to the table. Some might find the lack of any vocals to turn them away, but we’re instead treated to a richly detailed atmosphere that evokes a nostalgic, child-like emotion that would be fairly difficult to replicate with real words. The odd hum, or two, from Jenkins is enough to create a Shoegazed, dream-like backing track to the instrumental sounds. Speaking of those, we get a more electronic style of sound than some of the more piano-based compositions you would find on the EP, with shuffling drum beats and slightly grooving guitar licks evoking a gently propelling sound, while 80’s New Wave-inspired synth lines glide slowly beneath the organic instrumentation to blend these soft instrumentals with a more child-like ambience. It reminds me slightly of Boards Of Canada – with toy Organ chords and mid-tempo Synth lines creating a lightly psychedelic haze to the overall sound. Together, these soft instrumentals gently ascend in tempo, while the odd rumble of bass brings the celestial Synths back down to Earth. I know that some listeners really don’t like the lack of vocals in their music, but I really liked this little release. “Thirty Two” feels very relaxed and quite child-like, but there’s still a light melancholy to the sound with it’s mid-tempo pacing and the push-and-pull bassline. Overall, it is a very nicely laid out little track, and the possible flaws are easy to shake.

  • Pictured: Bullion (a.k.a. Nathan Jenkins) in a photoshoot for his NTS Radio Show (2017) (via NTS)

If you liked “Thirty Two”, I get the feeling that you will also like the title track from Jenkins’ “We Had A Good Time” EP release last February. Check it out right here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/27/todays-track-bullion-we-had-a-good-time/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “We Had A Good Time” (Released on February 28, 2020) (via DEEK Recordings)

That’s all I’ve got to share with you today – and so I’m going to move on with my shorter working day. Join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at one of my favourite singles in quite a long time, and this next one is currently really blowing up online with the 6Music crowd of listeners. The track comes from a London-based, female-led Post-Punk group who have recently signed up to the well-known 4AD indie music label, and they were inspired to write and perform their own music by bands including The Feelies, The Necessaries, Pylon and even The B-52’s of wide “Love Shack” fame. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Dent May – “I’ll Be Stoned For Christmas”

December 16, 2020 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you very much for checking out my latest blog post – and for bearing with me for today! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, for an in-depth look at another Alternative festive tune – This time from a legendary Japanese D.I.Y. Post-Punk female group who once used to perform as The Osaka Ramones – a tribute band to The Ramones. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/