Way Back Wednesdays: Betty Davis – ‘Come Take Me’

April 6, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Betty Davis in an unknown official photoshoot (date n/a) (Photo via The Vinyl Factory/Baron Wolfman)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to go retro for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog, which helps me to fulfill my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! We’re going to be remembering Betty Davis today, a North Carolina-born singer-songwriter who made an erotic string of Afro-Funk, R&B, Soul and rock-tinged Blues albums during the 1970’s. Davis was also known for her sexually provocative lyricism and her flamboyant live performances and, although she never became a household name, she developed a cult following and she has been cited as an influence by contemporary artists like Janelle Monae, Outkast and Jamila Woods, as well as fellow icons like Prince and Grace Jones, for her experimental blend of genres. Davis wrote, arranged and produced all of her own music in her time, a rarity for any female artist, yet alone a Black woman, during her era. She started out as a model, appearing in magazines like Glamour and Seventeen and working with designers, before she became the second wife of the legendary trumpeter Miles Davis. Although their marriage ended after a year due to implied abuse, she personally introduced him to Jimi Hendrix and Cream. She also penned material that got The Commodores signed to Motown Records. Davis sadly left us, aged 77, in February in Homestead, Pensylvania – where she had lived since her childhood – after being diagnosed with cancer a week prior. At one point, Marc Bolan of T-Rex fame encouraged her to write music for herself and she took that advice to heart when her self-titled debut studio album was released in 1973. Originally released by Just Sunshine Records (an upstart label), the record preceded three more solo albums and it got a CD and Vinyl re-issue in 2007 via Light In The Attic Records. She enlisted the help of The Pointer Sisters, Neil Schon, Sylvester and more guest contributors to bring the distinctive record to life and my focus track – ‘Come Take Me’ – was previously an unreleased track until 15 years ago, when it was included on special editions of her self-titled LP. Get a better idea of her sound with the cut below.

Her AllMusic profile describes Betty Davis as “a wildly flamboyant Funk diva with few equals… [who] combined the gritty emotional realism of Tina Turner, the futurist fashion sense of David Bowie and the trend-setting flair of Miles Davis”, according to the website, and so the music world continues to feel the effects of her tragic loss earlier in the year. ‘Come Take Me’ feels like textbook Betty Davis at her finest and most distinct, although the Vinyl re-issue of her entire back catalogue felt as though it was long overdue before the mid-00’s and it had not happened properly yet. That said, if you like the Jazz-tinged Psychedelia of Sly & The Family Stone, the loose Funk influences of Beck’s ‘Midnite Vultures’ era and his unconventional song structures, and the aggressive delivery of 70’s Rock ‘N’ Roll stalwarts, this one is for you. The intro feels a little unorthodox, before the guitar stabs and the wonky bassline comes in, with Davis croaking lyrics about not disrupting the rhythm and treating a lover right albeit with a frenzied and rather crazy attitude. The drums progress nicely throughout the track, starting off with a slow and steady vibe, before controlling the rhythm with a more frantic pace. Davis recites her lyrics with an instructive growl in her voice that complements the unapologetically Funk production of the track, where the warbling vocals carry the wobbling guitars and the trickling fusion of the Motown-esque Bass and Drums to create a rather irresistible groove. It doesn’t sound too out of date and although the songwriting may sound dated, Davis’ imagination of combining then-contemporary Blues-Rock sensibilities with creative, provocative explorations of lust, desire and sexuality in her howling vocals and erotic Jazz/Funk melodies is still there. Davis was a class act who was ahead of her time. The wide world wasn’t ready for her.

Pictured: Betty Davis in an official erotic photoshoot (date n/a) (Photo by NewYorker.com/Native Voice Films)

That’s all for now! Just to let you know that if you enjoyed today’s tribute to Betty Davis, a re-issue for her final album is also planned to be happening through her label sometimes in 2022. Thank you for checking out my latest post because your support is always highly appreciated, and I’ll be shifting our attention back to new music releases tomorrow with a review of a recent single by a South London-based indie rock band who will be releasing their self-titled debut album via Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label on April 29th. They have performed at festivals including Green Man Festival, SWN Festival in Cardiff, and Fred Perry’s All Our Tomorrow’s live Festival.

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New Album Release Fridays: Nilufer Yanya – ‘The Dealer’

March 4, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Painless’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 4th, 2021) (via ATO Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to enjoy an in-depth preview for one of the weekend’s most exciting stand-out’s in an eclectic line-up of exciting new album releases with yet another daily track on the blog, which makes sense because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Painless’ is the second studio album to come from Nilufer Yanya, who is the daughter of two visual artists who have Turkish and Irish-Barbadian heritage, which is releasing today via ATO Records. What makes Yanya very interesting is how, despite growing up listening to traditional Turkish folk music and Classical music, she gravitated to guitar-based rock ‘n’ roll instead, and she learned how to play an instrument when she was just twelve years old. Yanya has spoken out in the press about the talent acquisition model that she experienced when she found fame via SoundCloud in 2014, how people have assumed that she makes R&B music due to her appearance and background, and the lack of diversity in modern music festivals across the UK, most recently, in a firm but fair interview with The Independent. However, Yanya goes for a different sound than you may expect and pushes some boundaries with a sound that I would describe as quite ‘loose’ and ‘restless’, as she incorporates a decent variety of influences including Trip Hop, Blues Rock, Neo-Soul and Progressive Jazz into her repertoire of releases. The 26-year-old West London-based singer-songwriter says, “Painless is a record that forces the listener to sit with the discomfort that accompanies so many of life’s biggest challenges whether it be relationship breakdowns, coping with loneliness, or the search for our inner self. It’s a record about emotion”, in the LP’s product description on the Rough Trade website. The bold and ambitious release is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Miss Universe’ and a string of EP’s that were compiled to essentially form up her 2021 release ‘Inside Out’. Check out the latest single from it – ‘The Dealer’ – that was attached to the visualizer below.

“When I was writing this song, I was thinking about the transient nature of life and the cyclical nature of the seasons”, Yanya says of her final pre-release single ‘The Dealer’ that follows previously unveiled tracks like ‘Midnight Sun’ and ‘Another Life’, and she adds, “I find it interesting how we attach certain memories and feelings to different seasons and tend to revisit them time and time again, yet our lives move in a more linear motion and even when we feel like we are going back we never really get to go back anywhere. Musically speaking, it’s a bit more playful and relaxed”, in her press statement. Establishing a high tempo quickly and right out of the gate with a fuzz-laden series of blurred and dreamy guitar chords that are complemented aggressively by some clattering hip hop-like drum beats, Yanya gets right down to business by crooning “It’s been weighing on my mind/Seems to be with me all the time” and “I thought you were someone to rely on/Does sadness pick you to the bone?” with a lovesick tone as she continually contemplates her cyclical nature of her thought process. The instrumentation is fast, but frequent, as the track develops and the guitar-drum’s combo have a high-speed energy that allows the pounding break-beats and shoegaze-influenced basslines to have a few merticulous time signature changes that can appeal to the most avid fans of Prog Rock structuring while suiting the lushly harmonic and expansive funk-rock style of her vocals and instrumentals. Lyrics like “Patience, there she goes/Cadence, set in stone” show Yanya trying to break out of the self-centric and specific modes of thinking about a relationship, and the more straightforward refrains like “I miss the kind of patience that breaks your heart/Baby, it’s me that is taking us apart” have a rhythmic delivery, but they still cut to the root of the problem that has been plaguing Yanya’s mind throughout the verses. Overall, ‘The Dealer’ has to be one of the strongest singles that I’ve heard from Yanya because she sounds clear and confident, while addressing vulnerability, in her vocals. I also like the adjacent guitar hooks and the angular drum beats that sound cool and casual, while gently veering towards a retro 90’s-disco style in their groove-like repetition. If ‘Painless’ builds upon ‘The Dealer’, a purchase of the LP is a deal that is hard to refuse.

Pictured: Nilufer Yanya in a promotional shoot for her live Latitude Festival set (2017) (Photo via ReadDork.com)

Thank you for reading my latest post, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of the day knowing that your continued support is always highly appreciated from me! Moving forwards, there is a new weekly entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ lined up for you on Sunday, but I’ve got a short and sweet one in the works for tomorrow where we’ll be reviewing the latest single from a Los Angeles native all-female indie rock band known for their 2010 essential track ‘Undertow’. They have supported Harry Styles and Foals on global tours, and their single ‘Lilys’ was featured in the HBO TV series ‘Made For Love’.

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Way Back Wednesdays: The Charlatans – ‘You’re Not Very Well’

March 2, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Tim Burgess (Lead Vocals/Harmonica/Piano), Mark Collins (Pedal Steel Guitar), Martin Blunt (Bass Guitar) and Tony Rogers (Keyboard/Organ/Flute/Mellotron/Percussion) (2017) (Photo Credit: Andy Richardson)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to revisit one of the seminal sounds of the past for another weekly entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog, which fits my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! If I’m being wholly transparent with you, I wasn’t quite born yet when the ‘Madchester’ or ‘Baggy’ mini-movements began here in the UK, and so it’s thanks to my Dad and the records that he used to play in the car that I really have as much significant knowledge about the time that I still do. Although not quite one of the most chart-bothering bands of the time, like The Stone Roses and Ocean Colour Scene perhaps were, The Charlatans are still an active rock group who boasts the mid-pandemic Twitter hero Tim Burgess as their ringmaster, who have released thirteen albums to date. A set-closer that was the opening track of their debut album, ‘Some Friendly’, released in 1990 – ‘You’re Not Very Well’ is just one of the recordings that helped their debut album to enter the UK Albums Chart at #1. Introduced to the industry by the visual programming wonders of ITV’s ‘The Chart Show’, a still-lamented show, The Charlatans have scored hits like ‘The Only One I Know’ and ‘Then’ that reached the Top 15 in the UK. Let’s see them perform it at Manchester’s The Ritz from 1990 below.

The story behind 1990’s ‘Some Friendly’ is a well-documented one, since the record suffered from all sorts of production issues during the time of development. The recording sessions near Wrexham, Wales were awkward because ‘Burgess and buds’ fell out with the owners of the studio. The label executives were very keen on pushing them, and they wanted the band to record the album’s tracks despite them not having wrote many of them, and Burgess didn’t have the opportunity to stockpile songs beforehand. In spite of this, it still received great reviews from journalists and the record has been certified as ‘Gold’ in UK sales, and so that’s an achievement, whether it’s down to coincidence or raw fate is another dilemma. Opening track ‘You’re Not Very Well’ got the 90’s LP off to a start with prominent Organ stabs and repeating Bass hooks, with willful lyrics like “I don’t like all these sharks in the city/They don’t do much for me anyway” and “There’s that car that I used to swerve/This town traffic is knocking me over” that talk about how you can outgrow your surroundings while reflecting on the nostalgic moments that you’ve enjoyed within a certain area, as Burgess goes back and forth on his feelings regarding the people that he has met and the time that he has spent while growing up, with lyrics like “One step forward into mine/Faking pictures and opening doorways” and “Intervene and you privatise/Health is health and I don’t know about it” that each express anything but warm, sunshine-filled sentiments. There’s splashings of the slide guitar here and there to follow the Brit-Pop trends of the time while following an undercurrent of Funk as an influence. It is not necessarily steady on it’s feet as an overall piece, but ‘You’re Not Very Well’ is very pointed and it has a 1960’s Beat Groove with plenty of ‘Baggy’-ness and ‘Madchester’ elements to it that ensures that Burgess and his band-mates are delivering their instrumentation and vocals with a decent amount of cadence. An eclectic 90’s track that feels decent, if not particularly classic, which laid out a diverse, rhythmic framework for The Charlatans for decades to come.

Pictured: Tim Burgess performing with The Charlatans at Picnic In The Park (2019) (Photo by Rune Hellestad-Corbis)

If you are looking for some more catchy melodies by The Charlatans, then you need to look no further than my blog. Here is my take on The Charlatans’ 90’s classic ‘The Only One I Know’: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/28/way-back-wednesdays-the-charlatans-the-only-one-i-know/. You can also check out some of Tim Burgess’ solo work by giving ‘Empathy For The Devil’ a spin here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/29/todays-track-tim-burgess-empathy-for-the-devil/.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Some Friendly’ (LP) (Released on September 8th, 1990) (via Beggars Banquet Records)

That’s all of the time that I have got for now! Thank you for revisiting some ‘Baggy Brilliance’ with me today, and I’ll be back at it again tomorrow with new music from a ‘Post-Punk Poet’ who has often been featured on the blog before and she topped my ‘Best EP’s of 2020’ list that was published two years ago. She has toured with The Brian Jonestown Massacre across the UK and Ireland, and she has recently been working with Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey as her producer. She will finally be releasing her highly-anticipated debut LP record in June through Chess Club Records.

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Today’s Track: Khraungbin & Leon Bridges – ‘B-Side’

January 7, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Khruangbin (Laura Lee, Mark Speer & Donald Johnson) and Leon Bridges (2019) (Photo via Dead Oceans)

Good Morning to you! You’re reading text by the familiar face of the blog, Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to put your anxieties on pause for a few minutes as we listen to yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Having spent the past three years as an independent music writer, I have learned in my experiences that music often brings together a magical meeting of the minds to blend together. One pair of acts that have issued some robust material in the past together are the Grammy-nominated contemporary Jazz songwriter Leon Bridges and the Houston-based soulful Psych-Funk trio of Khruangbin who host the ‘AirKhruang’ podcast that you can hear via Apple Music and Facebook Live. I’ve written about the Laura Lee-led outfit, with Mark Speer on guitar and Donald Ray ‘DJ’ Johnson on Drums in tow, several times before on the website since I’m already a huge fan of their 60’s Thai-influenced music. In 2020, Bridges and Khruangbin released the ‘Texas Sun’ EP together, and they will be releasing a direct sequel or companion piece to that mellow record entitled ‘Texas Moon’ on 18th February, 2022 via Dead Oceans in partnership with Night Time Stories and Columbia Records. They decided to combine their efforts once again because, as Khruangbin note, “Without joy, there can be no real perspective on sorrow” and “Without sunlight, all this rain keeps things from growing. How can you have the sun without the moon?” in the EP’s product description. It’s going to be an exciting new year for Bridges and Khruangbin, and the five tracks on the new EP offer our first taste of what’s in store for them both and so I’m excited to hear the full results in a brief handful of weeks’ time. Check out their lead single – ‘B-Side’ – below.

Drawing sonically on the shared location of Texas which Bridges and Khruangbin both call home as an influence, the project aims to redefine “how people perceive Texas music – that beautiful marriage of country and r’n’b – and really paying homage to that”, as Bridges also notes in a press release. Filmed in a re-creation of an 1800’s Western village, the music video denotes this idea exponentially and feels right at home with Khruangbin’s installments of the LateNightTales’ compilation series of records that we’ve been following over the last few years. For pre-existing fans of Khruangbin, you already know there isn’t really any major adjustments being made to their sound on ‘B-Side’ with Bridges, however, it’s another stellar guitar performance from Speer and Lee that meshes beautifully with Johnson’s drums to create a tapestry of warm sounds that feel bright and mellow with a light Disco influence, all being dressed in their typically Psychedelic fashion that makes for their winning formula, and so the slick Funk-inflicted grooves and the pounding Bass and Drums combo, make for classic Khruangbin material which feels excellent, if familiar. Bridges’ vocals, meanwhile, are on-point too as he goes for a lovesick Falsetto croon that allows lyrics like “Deeply miss your love/When I’m far away, in another place” and “When I fly above/Weeks roll into days” to feel radiant while having the room to breathe as the pacing feels neat. His soulful style reminds me a lot of Michael Kiwanuka, while the classic, traditional Jazz template of his involvement with the instrumentation is more reminiscent of Curtis Mayfield and so it feels ‘Golden’ overall in terms of sounding vintage without coming across as outdated in any real way. The chorus really captures what it means to be missing somebody, as opposed to just what it feels like, as a result of the engaging vocal performance that blends cohesively with Khruangbin like a hand fits a glove, and so he just feels like another part of the band here and feels connected to them. Overall, there’s nothing that feels massively new here but, once again, the cool synergy between Bridges and Khruangbin clicks together pretty seamlessly and each of the performances are solid. We all know that we’re in really safe hands with these four musicians, and this is another expansion of the ideas the folks have explored together before that’s been created charismatically.

Pictured: Khruangbin performing at Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival (2019) (Photo by Frazer Harrison)

If you need a reminder of how ‘Texas Sun’ sounded ahead of the successor, you can check out my post about the title track here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/01/06/todays-track-khruangbin-feat-leon-bridges-texas-sun/. Alternatively, if you want to read more about Khruangbin, then you can check out ‘Pelota’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/26/todays-post-khruangbin-pelota/. There is also ‘So I Won’t Forget’: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/20/todays-track-khruangbin-so-we-wont-forget/, ‘Time (You and I)’: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/02/todays-track-khruangbin-time-you-and-i/ and ‘Christmas Time Is Here’: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/13/todays-track-khruangbin-christmas-time-is-here/.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Texas Sun’ (EP) (Released on February 7th, 2020) (via Dead Oceans)

That’s all for now and thank you for continuing to support for the first day or lending a few minutes of your day to it for the first time if you are a new reader. Variety is the splice of life, so we’re going to be looking at some new music from a big name together. Led by Kele Okereke, the 2000’s indie rock band have sold over three million records worldwide and have been known for inflicting their guitar-oriented sound with elements of House music and urban Electronica music. In April 2022, they will be releasing their first new full-length album which will be directly involving the new members of the project who joined up when the original line-up was changed in 2015.

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Today’s Track: Genesis Owusu – “Same Thing”

June 7, 2021 — Leave a comment

The Genesis of a futuristic mega-star of Hip-Hop music in the making. New post time!

Pictured: Genesis Owusu in a general promo press shoot (2020) (Photo Credit: Bec Parson/OURNESS)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, just like usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! One of my true standouts of the year so far has undoubtedly been ‘Smiling With No Teeth’ from the Australian-Ghanian Hip-Hop rising star Genesis Owusu, who is the brother of Citizen Kay, which was released in March. In that case, I was absolutely chomping at the bit to cover ‘Same Thing’ on the blog as soon as I was aware of it’s release. An outtake from Owusu’s masterpiece of Funk-drenched and deeply contextual debut solo LP release, which he sent out through his own label OURNESS, which he reportedly spent 60 hours jamming with his Black Dog backing band to conceive. It’s nice to see, therefore, Owusu releasing some of the material which didn’t make the cut on the side. He tells the press, “The songs chosen for the album conveyed a very specific narrative, but we also made a lot of great music that didn’t necessarily fit the album’s narrative points”, alongside the release of the colorful Byron Spencer-directed video for ‘Same Thing’, designed to reflect Owusu’s themes for the track. Check it out below.

“Same Thing was one of the tracks born from the seemingly limitless SWNT sessions”, Owusu added to his press notes for the unveiling of ‘Same Thing’, adding, “The track is still in the realm of the album’s themes of mental health (more specifically, the crazy s**t the mind makes up”, to accompany the trippy visuals conveyed by the music video. The track itself veers more towards the Thundercat or MNDSGN 70’s Funk revivalist sound of the present times than the more aggressively focused angles that ‘Smiling With No Teeth’ took as a body of work, and so I can probably see why Owusu decided to leave it on the cutting room floor originally from his latest long-player project. He opens, “It’s still the same thing you want from me/It’s the same thing I fear to see”, as a shimmering Synth riff buckles ahead of the Funk-rooted guitar licks. He flows together the danceable instrumentation with vocals touching on internal disarray and the push-and-pull dynamic of a mental health struggle, rapping lyrics like “See, I thought that I crawled out of the void” and “Back out the black to the laughs and joy” and “I remember the scent of a happiness/I still smell it most of the time” with a quick precision. The later lyrics hint at a hesitant decision to enter a new relationship despite the promise of new happy memories going unfulfilled to the unknown, with lyrics like “Smile in the teeth but my trusting is skewed/PTSD from my soul, black and blue” and “Dance on the line linking love and bruise/My heart is terrified when I’m thinking of you” before a female backing vocal comes in to potentially add her perspective to the dynamic. The rhythms, with the vibrant Synth chords and the minimal drum basslines, are reminiscent of Prince. It’s almost like Owusu is telling us all a narrative, which he did very nicely on his solo album. I think it would be nice for him to explore themes beyond mental health in the future, but, as for the here and now, I’m very convinced that he can do no wrong. I really admire Owusu’s sheer perseverance when it comes to making music, and the ways that he links his own personal character with the personality of the backing music. He’s an incredibly versatile performer, and the focus that he puts into both lyrics and melody. This is the scent of somebody who is clearly not just your average artist, as he also does things very differently to the average modern rap artist. I will swear by this artist.

Pictured: Genesis Owusu in a press shot for the Red Bull House Party (in 2020) (Photo via RedBull.com)

If you’re new to Genesis Owusu, which makes sense because he seems to be a little slept on generally despite the very positive reviews for his work, I’d really recommend getting yourself acquainted with the rest of his craft. You can get started with my review of ‘Don’t Need You’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/06/todays-track-genesis-owusu-dont-need-you/, and the more aggressive themes of racism on the energetic outburst of ‘Whip Cracker’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/03/27/todays-track-genesis-owusu-whip-cracker/

Pictured: Cover Art for “Smiling With No Teeth” (LP) (Released on March 5th, 2021) (via OURNESS)

We’ve reached the end of my musical musings for Monday morning! Thank you for sticking with me to this point, and I will be here again tomorrow to share another track that marks the return of another favourite from recent times, as this certain Moshi Moshi-signed London indie girl pop/rock group return from a two-year hiatus with a new single that was co-produced in the studio with Joe Goddard & Al Doyle from Hot Chip 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/

May Bank Holiday Monday Special: Breakestra (feat. Charli 2na, Double K & Soup) – “Family Rap”

May 31, 2021 — Leave a comment

A ‘Family Affair’ to mix up the Funk flavour of your Bank Holiday. Time for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Hit The Floor” (LP) (Released on October 25, 2005) (via Ubiquity Records)

Good Afternoon to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – wishing you a healthy, happy Bank Holiday Monday! It’s time for today’s track, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Family Rap’ is a Funk track from 2005, and so it’s pretty niche. It also doesn’t really fit the timeframe of the pre-2000’s ‘Way Back Wednesday’ or the Emo phase theme of ‘Scuzz Sundays’, and so it’s something that’s nice and different to revisit on a bright day such as this. ‘Family Rap’ comes from Miles Tackett’s Breakestra music ensemble that started out as an ensemble playing live covers of Funk, Soul and Jazz breaks to the style of the pre-sampling 70’s. Since then, Breakestra has worked with a huge variety of different guests – such as the late DJ Dusk, Jurassic 5 rapper Charli 2na and the Soul vocalist Afrodeyte. ‘Family Rap’ was the promotional single taken from 2005’s ‘Hit The Floor’, which was their first full-length album, which they put out through Ubiquity Records in 2005. It was their first record to feature entirely original recordings of tracks that fused elements of Hip-Hop, Funk and Soul Fusion. It comes highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a good groove or have enjoyed Tackett’s live shows, along with the two ‘The Live Mix’ parts of LP releases which Breakestra released prior to this one. It’s time to kick back, relax – and simply ‘Hit The Floor’ with ‘Family Rap’ down below.

“While Hip-Hop DJ/medley inspired covers are the foundation of Breakestra, it is only natural we’d want to express our own soulful proclamations”, is what Miles Tackett posted on Bandcamp to explain the project’s transformation from a live covers band into one producing their own material for a new transition in 2005, adding “I’ve been releasing original Funk cuts before putting out The Live Mix, Part 2. The first Breakestra single was an original song called ‘Getcho Soul Togetha”, so this album is really just a part of the natural flow”, he added to the press statement. ‘Family Rap’ feels like a solid fit for the size and lively atmosphere of one of Breakestra’s critically acclaimed live shows, as lengthy Trumpet sequences and a shimmering bass groove rolls the Hip-Hop essence along. The rap vocals are pretty tricky to keep up with, adding an increasingly quick tempo to the clattering Drum instrumentation and the Swing-laden Saxophone melodies. There’s a particularly nice section of Tinny drums towards the middle stretch, before the second half of the track adds a more percussive breakbeat to the stylistic Funk revivalism. The track manages to feel rather old and classical in it’s approach to 60’s Soul and 70’s Jazz, with a healthy dose of Rap vocals that reminds me of the music that A Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul used to make in the development of West Coast Hip-Hop. Vocally, Charli 2na & Double K bring some forceful rapping to the mix, as the lyrics take us through an idyllic route of “The City of Angels”. There’s nothing that striking to the vocals, but it accompanies the dance-oriented rhythms nicely and it adds a melodic attitude to the fray. Overall, it’s a relentless barrage of old-school Funk and DLO3-esque Jazz sequences that conjure up pictures of Booker T & The MG’s or Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, and a nice way to keep Funk music going until the likes of Thundercat arrived during the 2010’s.

Pictured: Miles Tackett, Davey Chegwidden, Mixmaster Wolf, Todd Simon & Carlos Guaico (2015) (via PR)

That’s it for now – I hope that you enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday Monday! Join me back here tomorrow for some brand new music, as we delve deep into the brilliant new track from Sheffield’s finest experimental pop project. You may know her from her time as the drummer and occasional vocalist or guitarist of the Slow Club duo. She also went on to feature on vocals for Django Django’s ‘Surface To Air’, which appeared on that band’s third studio album, ‘Marble Skies’. 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: The Charlatans – “The Only One I Know”

April 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

Toast would say Tim bloody Burgess, oh wait. That’s Ray Purchess. Let’s go way back!

Good Morning to you – My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! Perhaps somewhat overplayed at the time, The Charlatans ‘The Only One I Know’ is certainly one of the sounds of the past that has influenced those of the present. It reached #9 in the UK Singles Chart, and it made Tim Burgess and Buds some important figures of the Madchester/Baggy ‘Indie’ era. Burgess has been a hero to many with his listening parties on Twitter ever since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and now that seems to be finally reaching a visible end, The Charlatans have announced a special 30th Anniversary Tour of the UK and Ireland for this December. Like many, the group are acknowledging that a year has been lost for them due to the pandemic, and they’ve amusingly crossed out the “30th” on the publicity poster and replaced it with a “31st” label. Titled the ‘A Head Full Of Ideas’ tour, an accompanying box-set will be made available, featuring five albums and an exclusive bonus single. Released from their 1990 debut album, ‘Some Friendly’, Tim Burgess wrote in his memoir ‘Telling Stories’ that ‘The Only One I Know’ sold over 250,000 copies. Let’s revisit the old single below.

One fun fact about ‘The Only One I Know’ is that it’s continued to be memorable, and so it was used for an advert campaign for Cadbury’s chocolate in 2010. Two years later, it was also used in the Marshall Lewy-directed indie film ‘California Solo’ starring Robert Carlyle. You may also be familiar with a Funk-styled cover version with vocals by Robbie Williams which appeared on Mark Ronson’s LP, ‘Version’, in 2007 – and so The Charlatans’ traditional set wind-downer is still never many miles away from mainstream media exposure. Built from some lyrics that were directly lifted from The Byrds’ 1967 track ‘Everybody’s Been Burned’ and a Hammand Organ Riff that is a nod to Deep Purple’s rendition of ‘Hush’ from 1968, ‘The Only One I Know’ is a surprisingly funky look at romantic interests in the music scene. The lyrics of “The only one I know/Never cries, never opens her eyes” and “The only one I know, Wide awake and then she’s away” seems to imply that a romantic interest is the only one that our narrator feels a logical intimacy with, although a direct meaning is never made abundantly clear. Lines like “Everybody’s been burned before” and “Everyone knows the pain” feel more conclusive, however, and so the vague sentiment of our vocalist expressing his feelings as a victim of unrequited love makes it relatable enough to us as listeners. The instrumentation is relatively upbeat, with a frequent set of funk-inficted guitar licks and a highly baggy groove giving it a lick of danceability. The memorable, off-kilter keys riffs gives it just enough of a Garage beat to make things appeal to DJ’s, and so the crossover appeal feels welcome. The vocals and general production sound a little unpolished, with a slight DIY aesthetic that reminds me of the 60’s counter cultural sound that The Cribs explored on their latest album. The brief interlude towards the end provides for a “Pure Pop Moment” and the more dance-oriented coat of paint to the overall package makes it stand out among the likes of Ocean Colour Scene or Ash nicely enough. The sound is admittedly a bit commercial, and it’s definitely something that my least favourite radio station, Radio X, might overplay to the death like they do with Oasis or The Killers (or Noel or Liam Gallagher after playing Oasis), but, that little pet hate of an observation aside, it’s not a knock on the credibility of The Charlatans on the whole. Overall, it’s still a pleasant, solid track that sounds fresh enough for it’s time, and it crosses over to casuals nicely.

Pictured: Cover Art for “Some Friendly” (Released on September 8, 1990) (via Beggars Banquet Records)

That’s all for another week! – Time is flying past and I hope that it stops doing so because I’ve got important deadlines for my Masters degree to complete, you know. However, join me back here in roughly 24 hours time for some more brand new music, this time coming from an emerging indie Dream Rock trio from the sleepy town of Fleet, Hampshire. Signed to Fiction Records, the group were childhood friends who met at college in nearby Farnborough, bonding due to their love of 90’s Trip-Hop. They’ve made the ‘Hype List’ of Dork for 2021. 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: Jungle – “Keep Moving”

April 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Um Bongo, Um Bongo, they made this one in the Congo in the Jungle. New post time!

Pictured: Josh Lloyd-Watson (Vocals/Guitar) & Tom McFarland (Keyboard/Synths) (2021) (Photo via PR)

Good Evening to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, I’ve just finished off my scripts for my Ambient Music documentary as a part of my MA coursework, and that means I’ve got to quickly jump on-board for your 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! ‘Keep Moving’ is the new single from the London-based now-duo of Electronic Soul artists Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland, which has been getting support across the dial from the likes of BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 Music, NTS Radio, and now my humble abode of OMG Radio, over the course of the last handful of weeks. They have released two critically acclaimed albums, with their self-titled debut LP getting nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2014. Their third album, ‘Loving In Stereo’ is set for release on August 13th via Caiola Records, and it’s their first one to feature collaborations in the shape of US rapper Bas and the emerging Tamil-Swiss vocalist Priya Ragu. The music video was shot in one take and directed by Charlie Di Placido. Let’s check it out below.

The theme of ‘Loving In Stereo’ is new beginnings, a feeling emulated by the aim of the big dancefloor vibe of the lead single ‘Keep Moving’, which was premiered as Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’ one evening on BBC Radio 1 when it was first aired on the radio. Experimenting with a choir, Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland mix up an anthemic, festival heavy-hitting Neo-Soul sound with a very pop-oriented, Disco sound that feels nostalgic enough for a relative throwback to the days of old when we were allowed to pack out a beach resort in Malibu and sip cocktails. I think that it succeeds because it manages to feel relevant to our times socially, but these connections feel vague enough for the single to stand the test of time. The hooks are excessively melodic, and a light Gospel backing vocal complements the ongoing groove, which has a more boasting and strutful personality to it. Call backs to 70’s Bee-Gees are present here, but the detailed guitar licks and the toe-tapping Drum beats fulfill the needs of a modern listenership. The lyrics such as “Unless you understand it, Then find out what to do” and “Don’t think about it, I’ll be running with you” are catchy, and play on not looking back. It’s nothing too political or anything, but it encourages dancing and combines the Soul sound with some more intriguing explorations of Funk. It also has a big ‘Summer Anthem’ feel with it’s rich, percussive melodies and it’s upbeat Violin samples that bounce along to the beat. Overall – I quite like this, and I could see it going for some decent crossover appeal and potentially leaving a mark on the commercial charts. I enjoy that it sounds well-produced, but not overproduced. There’s a lot of polish to the production and the vocals, but it never goes overboard on the auto-tune effects or tries to throw too many elements at a wall to see what sticks. This feels like a very effective Comeback track. Groovy Baby!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Loving In Stereo” (LP) (Available from August 13, 2021) (via Caiola, AWAL)

That’s all I have time for today – but I’ll be hoping to publish another entry to our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature tomorrow, so join me back here in roughly 24 hours time to revisit a staple from THAT PHASE – this time coming from a well-known Hard-Rock, Ska-Punk and Street Punk project who are still making music today, and have independantly sold over four million albums globally making them one of Punk’s most successful independant Metal crossover groups. 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: Dante Elephante – “Game Of Love”

March 15, 2021 — Leave a comment

Play what you want – but you better not go play Mind Games on me! New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Game Of Love” (Single) (Released on Feb 26th, 2021 (via Born Losers Records)

Good Afternoon to you! Jacob Braybrooke here, wishing you a happy Monday, as I report to the blog for my track of the day, since it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! If you cast your mind back to just two months ago, you may recall our ‘New Album Release Friday’ feature on the blog, where we took an in-depth look at ‘Mid-Century Modern Romance’, the third studio album to be released by Dante Elephante (aka Ruben Zarate), on the Born Losers Records label at the very beginning of the new year. The album sees the singer-songwriter – who is based in the Highland Park area of Santa Barbara near Los Angeles in California – shed his previous Surf-Rock and Stoner-Pop sound for a more retro guise of Disco-Pop and Dance-Rock. Produced by Paul Cherry, the LP was a cheeky little sleeper hit of a release, with some groovy tunes that have really grown on me in the last two months. The sound is nicely inspired, while nostalgic at the same time, as an overall classic-sounding Pop package that doesn’t set the world alight, but refreshingly manages to transport you away from the grim reality of our current circumstances with a passionate stride. To follow up on album stand-outs like ‘Jeni’ and ‘Find Somebody To Love’, Zarate has just released a one-off single in the form of a cover version of Santana’s 60’s Soul Pop anthem, ‘Game Of Love’. If you find the sampling below to be enjoyable, Zarate also hosts his own eccentric podcast, ‘The Dante Elephante Podcast’, which you can check out each Thursday on commercial platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and wherever else that you get your podcasts. You can have a sing along to the on-screen lyrics for ‘Game Of Love’ below.

Paired with the above music video, which is dedicated to Gregg Alexander, Zarate has been promoting his music with a live appearance on the KCRW radio station, where you’ll find him talking about the records that take him back in his very own all-Vinyl playlist titled ‘Private Playlist’ which articulates his inspiration from his heroes, including rarities from Orange Juice and Eydie Gorme. The segment is up on his YouTube channel if that sounds interesting to you, where you can also find some live performances of tracks from the new album, alongside the above music video for bonus single ‘Game Of Love’. Speaking of that track, it demonstrates some maturing of his songwriting skills and some acting chops, with Zarate busting some moves to co-incide with the more upbeat, dance-oriented chorus sections. The verses are a little more pensive though, with soulful melodies and mid-tempo synth beats that continually emerge and retreat back in the more toned down sections. The drum beat grooves are rather nice, before sensual lines like “So, please tell me why you don’t come around here no more/Cause right now I’m dying outside the door of your loving store” creep in to the soundscape with a lightly drawing scope. The chorus is more hook-led, with rhymes like “It just takes a little bit of this, A little bit of that/It started with a kiss, Now we’re up to bat” and “A little bit of laughs, A little bit of pain, it’s all in the game of love” that feel forthright and ready for summer. The percussive elements are neatly packed into the sound, and Zarate increases the tempo of the original track just a little to give it a more funky, progressive update. Overall, it’s a really lovely little track because it demonstrates a clear talent that Zarate has in making pop music that sounds old-school and vintage with a top-notch sense of authenticity, and while the results are not really a groundbreaking record, it’s one that feels charming, with an affectionate Falsetto tool that takes me from a somewhat mundane setting, and it makes me feel like I’m beach-bound on a pleasantly hot day. It’s just good Pop music.

Pictured: Ruben Zarate (of Dante Elephante) in a ‘GoodTimes.SC’ promo shoot (2019) (via PR)

As aforementioned, this is the second time that Dante Elephante has pulled an appearance on the little blog. Although it’s grown on me more since then, you can also check out my guidance of album single ‘Las Vegas’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/01/08/new-album-release-friday-dante-elephante-las-vegas/

Pictured: Cover for “Mid-Century Modern Romance” (Released on Jan 8, 2021) (via Born Losers Records)

That’s all for now – Please feel free to check back here tomorrow, however, with an in-depth look at some more brand new music recommendations. Tomorrow’s track is almost guaranteed to send you straight to the bustling atmosphere of Asian aesthetics, with an in-depth look at the superb new track to come from a promising all-female indie rock band from Nagoya, Aichi who are signed to the Sub-Pop Records label. The band have recently collaborated with Gorillaz for a track on the ‘Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez’ compilation. 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: White Zombie – “More Human Than Human”

December 6, 2020 — Leave a comment

In your head, In your head – is gonna be White Zombie… Zombie… It’s Scuzz Sunday!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs Of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head” (Album/LP) (Released in 1995) (via Geffen Records)

Good Evening to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s finally time for me to get typing up about your new entry in our weekly Scuzz Sundays series, where I take you back to the Emo-Rock and Pop-Punk movements of the late 1990’s, up through to the mid-2000’s, with an ancient gem that I’ve dug out from that era of rock, named in tribute to the now-defunct Scuzz TV channel from my childhood years. It’s almost time to cap off 2020 – and this is going to be our last regular installment of the ongoing series until the new year of 2021, because we are getting more festive with the theme from next week onwards. Last, but not least, we have White Zombie – the trailblazing NYC-based Alternative Metal group most famously comprised of the rock goddess Sean Yseult, the lead guitarist Jay Yuenger, the drummer John Tempesta, and – of course – their frontman, Rob Zombie – who has since gone on to direct a wealth of B-movie horror flicks. Although disbanding in 1998, the band were still ranked highly at #56 of VH1’s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock” list that was published in 2006. “More Human Than Human” was one of their signature tracks – and it was included on the group’s fourth and, what proved to be, their final album – with the shortened title of “Astro-Creep 2000”, which was released in 1995 by Geffen Records. It landed the 4-piece group their most commercially successful album – reaching #6 on the US Billboard Top 200 albums chart, which was a really successful feat for an Alternative Heavy Metal record at the time. A few interesting facts about the track is that it features a repeated Slide Guitar figure, which is more commonly used in Blues music. Moreover, Zombie sampled the moaning vocal effects in the intro from “Cafe Flesh”, a Post-Apocalyptic pornography movie, of all items. Let’s hear the results of this below.

“More Human Than Human” quickly became White Zombie’s most recognizable single in their storied career, earning the band their second Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance, and being ranked on PopMatters’ list of “The 10 Best Alternative Metal Singles Of The 1990’s” list. The title of the track, as well as the lyrics themselves, also derive from the Phillip K. Dick poem “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep”, as Zombie wanted to infuse more elements of Sci-Fi Horror and Industrial rock themes into the band’s output for the LP. It was the single that tipped Rob Zombie over the edge to the mainstream of American radio, built around the toe-tapping Funk guitar rhythm that evokes qualities of Groove Metal. After the electronic intro with the witty sample, we get into the consistent Sliding guitar riff that forms the melodic basis of the track. Rob Zombie has a distorted vocal style, and he sings; “More Human Than Human” repeatedly over the top of the steady guitar instrumentation, with bass guitar riffs that are chugging along to the delayed pedal effects and the undertones of Post-Grunge. Zombie also proclaims the likes of “I am the Jigsaw man” and “I am the ripper man” above the crushing drum patterns and the Whammy-accentuated guitar work with a snarling vocal delivery that makes it a good fit for every over-the-top action flick that came out in the late-90’s. The vocals are pretty difficult to decipher and there’s not really a great deal of substance to them, but it’s the laidback Funk sensibilities and the Hip Hop-inspired placement of the quick samples that made the track stand out amongst the pack since there’s a decent amount of varied influences going into the composition. This lives up to it’s status as an, albeit cheesy, 90’s classic. It’s great to end our feature on a high this year.

Pictured: Rob Zombie (Lead Vocals/Producer/Writer), Jay Yuenger (Lead Vocals), Sean Yseult (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and John Tempesta (Drums) (1995) (Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns)

Thank you for reading my latest blog post! As usual – I’ll be back tomorrow – although it will be a pre-written one since I’m making the travels back to my non-university home for the festive period tomorrow. There are only ever so many hours in a day, after all! I’m going to continue to shout about a certain Kansas-based singer and songwriter who describes herself as a “Girl who makes music in her living room”. 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/