Today’s Track: Neil Frances – ‘Dancing’

April 21, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Jordan Feller (Drums/Synths) and Marc Gilfrey (Samples/Producer) (2022) (Photo by Victoria Smith)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come time to shine your favourite pair of dancing shoes before we get invested in yet another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Saying “We like the idea of our music sound-tracking people’s weekends” to Karen Gree of NME in a recent interview, Neil Frances is not a solo artist – but rather the Los-Angeles based Alternative Soul duo of Sydney-born musician Jordan Feller and Southern California native producer Marc Gilfrey, who have named their debut studio album ‘There Is No Neil Frances’ to illustrate the fact. Out now via Nettwerk Music Group, the LP was recorded in Echo Park Studio over the past year and it follows the loose narrative of an insect who is trying to find its place in a utopian dreamscape. Exploring a wide assortment of Alternative Pop and Experimental House sounds on previous releases like 2018’s ‘Took A While’ EP and 2021’s ‘Stay Strong, Play Long’ EP, Neil Frances met in New York and began the project in 2016 with their intention of creating honest and authentic music. The duo have opened up a sold-out show for SG Lewis at The Shrine. They have also supported the likes of Jungle, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Poolside on tours across the US. The duo will also be performing at the Shabang Live Music & Arts Festival, WonderStruck Festival and Firefly Music Festival throughout 2022 as well, and so there’s a handful of places that you can find them love if you thoroughly enjoy the new album like I have, which features contributions by Benny Sings and GRAE. Give ‘Dancing’ a listen below.

Neil Frances have gained support from KCRW, Under The Radar, Magnetic, Flood and Brooklyn Vegan in the past few years, and their own cover version of Stardust’s ‘Music Sounds Better Than You’ has amassed over 70 million streams. Explaining the concept behind their latest outing, the duo say, “Our new album is about self-realization and becoming the person that you dream of. The concept is that we are insects on Earth who ascend into outer space to become divas at a galactic ball”, in their descriptive press statement. As the ninth track on the long-player, ‘Dancing’ marks a transition point into more accessible sounds that seem easier to groove to, compared to the slower build of the earlier tracks, with it’s silky and smooth Nu-Disco vibe. An airy, gently processed lead vocal mixes together with the World Fusion-based Drums in the opening as atmospheric lyrics like “As the sea comes speaking to me/Time will voice its drift out of key” and “When I see this all to my brain/Tell the lord we’ve trouble where we went” cleanly kick-starts the dense journey of Psych-Funk, Trip Hop and Progressive Soul that flows cohesively throughout the single. A bold, one-note hook of “When dancing is seeking delight” illustrates the themes of the track beautifully in the chorus. Musically, the instrumentation represents an ethereal blend of Future Funk and soft R&B that gets stretched out by effective sampling, light vocals and manipulated sounds to create the slow-burning textures and give the groove a hypnotic quality in the process. The sparse danceability reminds me of ‘The Slow Rush’ by Tame Impala, while the vintage-leaning dance music elements recall back Gilligan Moss to my mind and the calming mood of the soulful vocals makes me reminisce over MNDSGN’s material. There’s an eclectic range of influences in here, but Feller and Gilfrey manage to make the spatial trip through these layers of music their own by developing their 90’s New-Age influences with a neat amount of detail and showing their versatility as producers who are not constrained to one specific genre. Overall, ‘Dancing’ is a song that will make your feet move involuntarily to the rhythm.

Pictured: Neil Frances in a photoshoot for ‘Finding Rhythm’ (2021) (Photo via NorthernTransmissions.com)

That brings us to the end of another roughly 24-hour period on the blog, and I really want to wish you great luck for the rest of your week in return for your generous support. I’m going to be back for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow as we turn our attention towards the long-awaited and slightly delayed debut album release by an Australian Psychedelic Rock 4-piece who created their own Lazyfest music festival.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Beck – ‘The Little Drum Machine Boy’

December 10, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Beck Hansen in a promotional photoshoot for ‘Mellow Gold’ (1994) (Photo via DGC/Bang Bang)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to pre-heat the oven and bake some Christmas Cookies as we continue our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ for the year with another daily upload on the blog, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It has been a little while since we heard from Beck Hansen on the blog, but we have explored several snippets of his material on the site before. The 90’s Alternative Pop and Rock music icon has always been known for his exhaustive list of collaborations with fellow pop culture legends like Paul McCartney, Air and The Lonely Island, as well as his obscure and oblique lyricism, along with his wealth of eccentric recordings in the 90’s and 00’s that have found Beck scoring several Grammy Awards wins and a four-time platinum certification for his album sales, with some of his most popular albums being 1996’s ‘Odelay’ and 2002’s ‘Sea Change’, both of which were highly influential and earned spots on Rolling Stone’s list of ‘The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time’ that was last revised in 2020. Although some of my favourites include 1999’s ‘Midnite Vultures’ and 2019’s ‘Hyperspace’, his rare Christmas track known as ‘The Little Drum Machine Boy’ came immediately off the back of ‘Odelay’ and ‘Mutations’, where Beck was very confident in his ability to pull together his absurdities on top of sly, freeform Hip-Hop beats. The single first appeared on KROQ’s annual Christmas tape in Los Angeles during 1996, before appearing on his label’s charity compilation titled ‘Just Say Noel’, and it can also be found on Kevin & Bean’s ‘Christmas Time In The LBC’ compilation released that same year. Beck recalled in an interview during 2008 that he actually recorded it during the summer time and nowhere near to the holidays in a studio found in Rochester, New York when he finished touring one year and that it was inspired by Outkast and Busta Rhymes’ early records. Even by Beck’s lofty experimental standards, this single is pretty bizzare. Give into the insanity below.

‘The Little Drum Machine Boy’ is a pretty obscure recording when all things have been considered, but two edits of Beck’s kooky festive anthem exist. The example above is the full-length seven minute recording which is drum machine-based, but there is also a three minute radio edit out there without the lengthy ending sequence. The problem is, with the latter version, you’re missing out on a lot of the humor and the twists on the Christmas-themed production formula. Beck was largely known for his quirky sample-based flair and his post-modern Pop Art collages of noise throughout the 90’s, and ‘The Little Drum Machine’ boy recalls this era of his discography with logical sense – building up some meticulous layers of soft-funk, wobbling bass and psychedelic guitar rhythms full of trippy and rhythmically deranged sounds with a wonky structure. It’s hard to even find a place to start with the lyrics, which rarely make any sense of a typically coherent fashion, as you’re likely to expect from the weird and wonderful palette of mid-90’s Beck. Hansen starts off with the words taken from the ancient christmas carol that his track’s title bears a clear resemblance to, before proclaiming to drop some ‘Hanukkah’ science to the mix and adds a robotic vocal to the mixture. The robotic samples act as a through-line for the wacky sonic palette, as he continues to twist and morph the tone of the universally known carol to be about the Jewish holiday of Hannukah and modernizes the melodies with the help of some eccentric synths and the consistent Drum Machine programming. The vocals feel hazy and hallucinogenic, but there’s a rhyme and a reason to a few of the lines sprinkled in here, as Beck’s near-indecipherable robot voice is actually reciting a Jewish blessing and he continues to slur some Jewish prayers throughout the song with his awkward vocals. The crazy concoction of his vocals and instrumentation bend and break the conventional Christmas tropes by transforming the vocals into being an ode to Hanukkah instead of our global end-of-the-year season. It contains some of the most abstract, on-the-nose and topically obscure Christmas lyrics ever to be issued, but Beck achieves his goal of dropping some “robot Hanukkah science” that he clearly states at the intro of the strange single, and so the ensuing collage of quirky music isn’t as hard to make out as it may first appear when you really think about it. The ending is festive and funny, while the playful lyrics throughout are dipping between hooks of different Christmas classics that you would recognize and his affection for the Jewish holiday that he depicts as equivalent. Overall, this is a strange and straight-up abnormal tune that only be 90’s Beck, and only he could only get away with making it work because he manages to make it supple enough to hold together and the unique, individual rhyme schemes of his musical blueprint saved it from diving into the pure novelty status it risks. Bonkers brilliance from the best Beck.

Pictured: Art Collage showing the many faces of Beck over the decades (2018) (Photo Credit: Sarita Schaffer)

Several sporadic entries regarding Beck have been made on the blog before, and so there’s plenty to keep you busy content-wise on this humble site if you’re an avid fan of his output. You can read all about 1999’s ‘Hollywood Freaks’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/02/22nd-birthday-special-edition-beck-hollywood-freaks/. There’s also my thoughts on ‘Uneventful Days’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/29/todays-track-beck-uneventful-days/ and you can see more of ‘Hyperspace’ with my review of ‘See Through’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/11/28/todays-track-beck-see-through/, and one of my earliest posts was written about ‘Tropicalia’ from ‘Mutations’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/08/20/todays-track-beck-tropicalia/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Midnite Vultures’ (LP) (Released on November 23rd, 1999) (via DGC Records/Bang Bang)

It’s time for me to take a deep breath and leave you to enjoy the rest of your day! The festivities will keep going tomorrow, however, with another new installment in our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ for 2021. The next pick is much more recent and it comes from a 25-year-old Tennessae-born indie rock singer songwriter who was a member of the ‘Boygenius’ trio alongside similarly young solo breakouts Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. Her latest LP, ‘Little Oblivions’, was released to great reviews in February.

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Today’s Track: Myd – “Born A Loser”

August 2, 2021 — Leave a comment

You are either born like a Teenage Dirtbag – or a privileged politician. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Born A Loser’ (CD) (Released on April 30th, 2021) (via Ed Banger Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for you to bring your trunks and a towel to the beach while you read all about my daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Myd is an electronic dance music producer and sound engineer from Paris, France who was certainly aiming for ‘Summer Anthem’ status when he released ‘Born A Loser’, his debut solo studio album, on Because Music and Ed Banger Records back in April. The 14-track project features guest spots from Mac DeMarco, Bakar and Juan Wauters, and is billed as his coming-of-age story and a soundtrack to the eccentric side of life, although the title track flips that style of mood on its head for a neat twist. Myd got his foot in the door of the music industry as a prior member of the 4-piece experimental House group Club Cheval, and he has worked as a producer for French Hip-Hop acts like Alonzo, SCH, Lacrim and Georgio. Give ‘Born A Loser’ a whirl below.

Built from a sample of Bobby Lee’s quirky 1966 track, ‘Born A Loser’ is an intriguing Alt-House track which Myd bills as “The song is an anthem dedicated to all the people who think they are losers. This feeling should give them the strength they need to go and achieve great things”, in his own words, according to a press release. A terrific house re-work, created from hitting the switch to twist a memorable male vocal sample, that we didn’t know we ever needed – the tune deviates from the happy-go-lucky, sunshine beach melodies of the Funk-leaning efforts from the new record by taking some notable influence from the Hauntology sub-genre. Starting off with an ecstatic kick drum beat, Myd soon subverts the more cheerful and Jazz-oriented tone with a quickly warping Synth sequence that leads smoothly into a male vocal that represents a form of wailing sadness, as the pitch becomes maddened and frenzied by the unrelenting, yet comical and bouncy, bassline that carries the atmospheric qualities of the sound forwards to some driving beats and rumbling Bass sequences. While feeling minimalist and a little simple in execution on paper, the track quickly encompasses fine elements of Chicago House, with the fist-pumping Bass and the chanting backing vocals that lie with subtlety behind the main picture, and elements of Neo-Psychedelia with the modulated sounds and the vibrant keyboard riffs. It plays out almost like a drunken round of Jazzercise, as opposed to a lazy paddle in the pool, with a darker variation of tones and a gyrating pace of noise that gives the sound a nicely wonky and curvy feel. Although the track’s natural habitat would be a summer festival or a club performance, which is a shame, there’s definitely enough substance to accommodate at-home listening to a very good extent. This is Tres Bien.

Pictured: Myd in the official music video for ‘Together We Stand’ (2021) (Photo via PR/YouTube.com)

Thank you for celebrating your inner ‘weirdy’ on the blog with me today, and please feel free to join me for more fresh music tomorrow, with my pick being from one of my favourite albums in the last three months, and a single that I’m obsessed with to boot. It comes from a Nu-Funk, Soul and soft Jazz singer-songwriter, producer and graphic designer from Los Angeles, California who has recently performed a KEXP ‘Live From Home’ session. Last year, he released a collaborative album with Lionmilk.

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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/

Today’s Track: Iden Kai – “Disco James”

April 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

My haircut would be right for a Silent Disco – no volume what-so-ever. New post time!

Pictured: Front Sleeve for “Disco Fortuna” (Released on January 15, 2021) (via Neon City Records)

Good Afternoon to you (Borderline Evening) – I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s finally time again for me to get scribbling up about your track of the day on the blog, as per typical, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Bandcamp is a truly excellent resource for finding some rarities from some of the world’s independent creatives, and one of my recent discoveries has been Iden Kai’s new album, ‘Disco Fortuna’, which was released to the app and wherever you stream your music on January 15th via Neon City Records. I could find very little information on Iden (Which is pronounced as “Eiden”) when I had searched him up on the web, other than knowing how he pronounces his name and that he is a Mexican DJ and Electonic Funk record producer. However, he seems to be gaining some rock solid traction with those who enjoy their Future Funk and Disco revivialist anthems – for instance – he currently has 3.3k montly followers on Spotify and ‘Disco Fortuna’ has amassed over 10k streams on the platform as well, which is pretty good going for someone so off-the-radar online. Check out the single, ‘Disco James’, below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFcIe-JACzA

Iden Kai offers up his mixes to the currently popular ‘Future Funk’ sub-genre, which, if you are not familiar with the name of this style of music, it pays homage to the viral culture of Synthwave, Chillwave and Vaporwave, but ultimately takes on a more hyper-melodic and anime-style visual work that is defined partly by it’s samples of rare smooth jazz, R&B and lounge Jazz recordings of the 80’s. In more simpler terms, it’s basically the most “poppy” music that you could probably come across, with young artists who share their material around places like YouTube. It’s sometimes seen as quite a trashy and disposable style of production, but like with any good art, it just depends how you treat the genre and what credibility you strive to add to it. ‘Disco James’ is actually a nice way to get acquainted with the relatively new sub-genre. It strips away the more ‘trashy’ qualities of the early-2010’s internet meme culture for me, and it provides an update to 90’s house that feels driven by more Japanese influences. The sound is strikingly upbeat, as Horn melodies and synth instrumentation provides a throwback feel designed to get the party grooving. Meanwhile, the vocal samples are chopped up and screwed up, the lyrics barely inaudible, to also carry across a Metropolitan aesthetic. The keys are playful and the effects experiment with nostalgic moods, with a breakdown towards the end of the track that feels less Jazz-influenced and more video game sound directed. Of course, there’s quite little here in the way of original material from the artist – but it seems like the goal for Iden was to re-purpose these prominent samples of vintage tunes for appeal towards a fresh audience. While it probably won’t appeal to everybody for it’s disposable approach to art, depending on who you ask, it’s earned a few good repeat listens from me. Super melodic, emphasizing on fun and knowingly nodding to the 80’s with care, there’s enough here to keep the party dancing all through a long night.

Pictured: Still image from the ‘Disco Fortuna’ music video (2021) (Photo by Real Love Music)

Thank you for checking out my latest post – I did try to beef it up! This one should get the extended bank holiday weekend moving in style. The festivities continue tomorrow with our ‘New Album Release Friday’ section – where we take a sampler of one of Good Friday’s new album releases. Tomorrow’s track comes from a fresh South London 4-piece group who have been fusing witty, jumbled Spoken Word sections with Post-Rock guitar shredding to unanimously praised effect! 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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF7E5nDPsXc

“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/

New Album Release Friday: Dante Elephante – “Las Vegas”

January 8, 2021 — 1 Comment

What happens in Vegas – stays in… Ohh heck no, I’m telling everyone. New Post time!

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

Guess who’s back? Back again! Of course, it’s Jacob Braybrooke – and I’m here, once again, to type up about the daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day! Firstly, apologies for missing out yesterday – I had a panicking crisis going on with my laptop and the battery, and so I obviously needed to prioritize using what I could to save ALL of the sheer volume of University work that I’ve been doing, as opposed to the blog. However, things are back to normal now – and I can start off our new weekly feature. Since it’s Friday, there’s always a handful of new album releases, and so we’re going to pick one to review each week. This is the artist who stuck out to me the most when I was doing my research on artists with a new album out this weekend, and so I have only just heard of him myself. “Mid-Century Romance” is the fourth album release to come from Dante Elephante (the pseudonym of Ruben Zarate), an Alternative Surf-Pop singer-songwriter currently based in Los Angeles, California. The new album was released today via Born Losers Records. Produced by Paul Cherry, the new LP is the follow-up to 2018’s “Rare Attractions”, and it finds Zarate drifting away from his roots as a Stoner rock musician into a more R&B, disco Synth-Pop sound. He also hosts his own self-titled podcast, with new episodes hitting streaming services (such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.) each Tuesday. Let’s check out the new single “Las Vegas” below.

His latest single sees Zarate take us on a Synth-drenched, R&B-lite road trip through the desert of Las Vegas, as he noted “Las Vegas holds a special place in my heart”, on the Jack Campise-directed music video. Elaborating on his creative process behind the track, he explained: “Living in Santa Barbara, the idea of driving five hours to Las Vegas was a no-brainer. So we went every weekend. Of course, during a pandemic made it ten times more difficult, and I learned Vegas is a crazy place” – oh, the luxuries of leaving the house in this day and age. “Las Vegas” is polished off by a nostalgic set of quirky keyboard riffs and the occasional String melody, with a central theme of 1979 being now. Zarate asks: “Could you tell me if I’m good enough?” and “So, am I always going to feel this way?” over the top of a flickering Synth beat and a mid-tempo, 80’s drum rhythm. The refrain in the chorus is more reflective, with Zarate singing: “We’re driving through grand canyons” and “We’re flying to Las Vegas” to a romantic partner or a close friend, to the beat of a light acid synth line and the mid-tempo, 80’s drum groove that continues permeating through the track. It touches on 90’s house sounds, with Zarate breaking it down with: “Dream, a little dream of me” in the bridge towards the conclusion, as we hurtle to the end point of the track with a little Disco fever. Overall, there seems to be masses of artists going for a rather similar style these days, with nostalgia for the 80’s playing a key role in people’s functions for listening to lots of music in the first place, and so the group doesn’t really need any new members. However, I still think that “Las Vegas” is rather nice. The throwback vocal harmonies make it stand out enough among the pack, and the Disco influences are clearly here with a good heart. I don’t think the sound is anything revolutionary, but the soulful vocals and the mild chord progression give it a certain punch. Overall, I feel that it is unoriginal, if effective. Enough love has clearly gone into the creative aspects, even if it’s a little light on viscerality to take the “catchy” feel up another peg.

Pictured: Ruben Zarate (aka Dante Elephante) in a photoshoot (2020) (Photo by Tommy McDermott)

Thank you for checking out the first edition of our new weekly feature – it was something that I was sort-of doing already, so we may as well make it official. I’m going to be picking up from where I left off yesterday, as we switch our gears to a more ambient/electronic sound from a producer who is often compared to Boards Of Canada for his nature-based production methods, and you may also know him as the graphic designer ISO50. 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: Namy & Ayoni – “Disco Dancing”

January 2, 2021 — Leave a comment

The Usos. The Dudley Boyz. Demolition – all of the great tag-teams… New Post Time!

Pictured: Namy (DJ/Producer) in a photoshoot for an interview feature (2018) (via Tokyophonic.com)

The Road Warriors. The New Age Outlaws. The Young Bucks – and, yes, I’ve realized that if you are not a fan of pro wrestling like me, then, those references are probably falling onto deaf ears for you. Anyways, I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day! Today’s team-up marks the collaboration the Japanese electronic music producer Namy, who has a love affair with Funk, Latino and Jazz music, and the vocalist is Ayoni, a Barbadian-born singer, songwriter and model who was mentored by Patrice Rushen. Their track is “Disco Dancing”, and although this is the first track that I’ve heard from either of the two musicians to be honest with you, I think their stars are on the rise. “Disco Dancing” was released as a one-off single back in October, but I wasn’t honestly too sure what tracks to pick on a “Nothing” day such as the 2nd of January, and so it’s nice to be able to take a look back at some of the missed gems – perhaps – that 2020 had to offer, as we wait for releases. Take a look at the Hanaé Sanchez-directed video below.

Ayoni described her link-up with Namy as a spontaneous, impulsive kind of deal, posting: “I was listening on the Spotify app and came across one of Namy’s collaborators. I loved the energy in his tracks, his production style and how his music really lends itself to movement” in the press notes, explaining: “We decided to work and create while he was in Japan, and I was in Houston, and it ended up being a very fun, collaborative experience”, said the currently Los-Angeles based Pop-Soul singer. It’s a tricky move to release such a dance-oriented track in these harsh times, but I also think they bring a sense of normalcy and warmth to a time that is awaiting the glorious re-opening of nightclubs and live music bars. For me, “Disco Dancing” serves as a very satisfactory contrast to the more hard-hitting experiences that we have been having throughout the last year. Opened by a groovy set of funk guitar licks and a two-step synth beat, Ayoni sings: “We don’t need no metrics, Just your hand will do” over the top of a hyper-melodic, sugar-coated 80’s snare beat. A soulful undertone is a large factor of the verses, before the bridge takes it up a notch with “Sparkling in Cosmic, Saccharine right through” bringing a Sci-Fi, virtual feel to the record. The chorus raises up the tempo, as Ayoni chants: “Just for tonight, Send me, send me higher love” and “How did you make me fall for you, When we’re disco dancing?” over the top of a syncopated drum beat and a mid-tempo bass groove that briefly starts and stops. An upbeat, anthemic Power-Pop chorus rings through the multicultural influences of the track, and a fragmented set of drum claps and light Acid synths add some percussive sounds to the mix. It’s got a slick, super-polished Funk style that reminds me of Skylar Spence, Tomo Nakayama and Skule Toyama, in the way that it refuses to deny indulgent Pop in being a key drive behind the melodies. On the flip side, the lyrics don’t particularly grab me, as they don’t seem to have anything particularly interesting to say. However, Ayoni does a nice job with what she has to work with, as a powerful voice commands the Pop elements of the track without bordering into too much auto-tune, and the structure of the track is a bit overly reliant on the mainstream Pop ballad layout for me, but the production still manages to sound well-inspired. There’s a lot of things that I like about this track, along with a few nitpicks that I don’t like so much, but it feels recent enough, and it makes for a decent listen overall, due to some solid electronic synth production that feels vibrant.

Pictured: Ayoni (Singer/Songwriter) in a photoshoot for a Get To Know Q&A (2019) (via DailyTrojan.com)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post. As always, join me again tomorrow – When it will be time for the first regular weekly entry of Scuzz Sundays of the New Year, right here in 2021. We’re going to be kicking off, potentially, the next 52 weeks worth of the feature with one of the biggest singles that we’ve yet to revisit. It is one of my childhood classics, and it comes from a band who have had several line-up changes throughout the years – along with once recording one of the most divisive cult classics in pop-punk history, with an album that was heavily inspired by… The Beatles! 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: Lou Hayter – “My Baby Just Cares For Me”

November 17, 2020 — 1 Comment

Rainbow Drops. Betamax. Those would be the days – If I was born! It’s new post time!

Pictured: Lou Hayter at the Skate at Somerset House Launch Party in London (2019) (via GotCeleb.com)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to check out today’s track on the daily blog, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Lou Hayter’s “My Baby Just Cares For Me” is a nostalgic Synthpop single which I hoped to get the chance of writing about a little sooner. Although it gained a little airplay from BBC Radio 6Music and John Kennedy’s X-Posure on Radio X, it sadly didn’t seem to get the mainstream attention that I feel it probably should have received. The track comes from London-based DJ and producer Lou Hayter, who started making music as the keyboardist of a Mercury-nominated electronic group, New Young Pony Club. Since then, she’s been a part of the duo of Tomorrow’s World with the French DJ and producer JB Dunckel. She’s also been in the duo of The New Sins with Nick Phillips. She’s released little of her own solo music, but she’s performed DJ sets for clients like Chanel, Paul Smith and Damien Hirst in his “Treasures Of The Wreck Of The Unbelievable” art exhibition in Venice – and at the Cannes Film Festival. This single, “My Baby Just Cares For Me” is the first sample of her upcoming debut solo album, which encompasses her love for 80’s Pop, Disco, Yacht Rock, Electro Pop and Acid House, and it is currently scheduled for release sometime in 2021. Let’s take a listen to “My Baby Just Cares For Me” below.

The accompanying music video takes the form of a Sophisti-Pop 80’s collage, directed by Alice Kunisue, who Lou Hayter feels perfetly captures the main essence of the single, saying: “I saw Alice’s work with Ed Banger and I loved it straight away. It’s made up of moving collages, which is kind of a visual representation of how the record was made: I cut up a sample I found and I played around with it” in a press release. Judging by how Kunisue affirmed: “Lou is as sweet and beautiful as her music, it was such a pleasure working with her”, it really sounds like the collaboration is a match made in heaven. The track gives me a vibrant sense of the London fashion world: With beats that sound unashamedly 80’s and undeniably Pop, along with lyrics that toy around with ideas of trophy wives and dolly relationships for the camera as Hayter sings: “Call me every single day and I hear you say, I’m not with you, I don’t take it serious ’cause you love me the most, I know it’s true” during the opening lines, as it becomes clear that disingenuous love is a key theme. The lyrics also feel very glamorous and very sexual, as Hayter rhymes: “You speak in English, but your kiss is French” in the bridge, and “When I look at you I see, The future you and me” with an innocent and mellow delivery. A sharp 80’s Future Pop sound pushes to the forefront, with Hayter crooning: “No sweat, ‘Cause we’re tied like that” in the chorus. The main sample gets pushed-and-pulled to the upbeat rhythm of the heavy 80’s Synth-led instrumentation. “Tried other boys, but baby you’re the best” is another slick line that really emphasizes the quirky and seductive vocal characteristics. The production is kept fairly simple, but the Celestial Funk synths and the 80’s R&B, melodic influence keeps things moving with a nostalgic vibe. I also like how the soft vocals and the subtle Electro-Soul patterns seem to be showing a sweet and lighthearted nature, but it actually holds a darker melancholy of unrequited love within – lyrically. The radio edit feels a bit short and sweet at 3 minutes, and I think it could have done with being a little longer – but if my only real complaint is that I wish it was longer – You’ve got what should be a radio hit on your hands. I’m pretty sure that any other writer has probably said this about the track – but I think it’s very retro, and very cool. Reminds me of the sound that La Roux would explore in the very late-00’s, in quite a good way. Overall, this is a cooing, rhythmic and sexy throwback which is well worthy your time.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for "My Baby Just Cares For Me" (12" Single) (Released on 25th August, 2020) (via Loaded Records) — Pictured: Cover Artwork for “My Baby Just Cares For Me” (12″ Single) (Released on 25th August, 2020) (via Loaded Records)

Thank you very much for reading my latest blog post! As always, I will be back at it again tomorrow – as we finally mention the “C” word for the first time of the year…. And that is the only little tease that I’m going to let you in on… for now. 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: Djo – “Keep Your Head Up”

October 21, 2020 — Leave a comment

You may think this release is a bit weird, but I’ve seen Stranger Things. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Keep Your Head Up” (Single) (Released: September 9, 2020) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to fulfill my daily duties of writing up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s routinely always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A track that prickled my ears a little on a recent episode of 6Music Recommends, curated by Lauren Laverne, is the funky jam “Keep Your Head Up”, and what prickled my ears even more was her introduction of the new track, as it was produced and recorded by Joe Keery, who is best known for playing the role of Steve Harrington in the Netflix flagship series, “Stranger Things”, which I also really like. He records his own music under the side-project of Djo, and it turns out that he even put out a debut album, “Twenty Two”, last year, which was a success, despite releasing with hardly any promotion or fanfare beforehand. If you’re anything like the cynic that is me, the whole endeavor probably sounds rather random to you. However, Keery has actually been pursuing music for a long time, and, he is a former touring member, and a current contributing musician, of the Chicago-based Psychedelic Surf-Rock group, Post Animal. He debuted “Keep Your Head Up”, his first music material since last year, in a conversation with Wayne Coyne, of The Flaming Lips, on Talkhouse’s Instagram, and Keery later promoted it as part of a Reddit AMA on the r/indieheads subreddit. It is expected that more music will follow up soon. Let’s have a listen to the track below.

Keery was planning to embark on a solo tour as Djo throughout 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic obviously hit, and here we are now. But, in his press release, he commented that his new single represents “a much-needed bolt of positivity in an otherwise dark time”, and he has been enlisting the aid of producer Adam Thein as a collaborator on his new music. “Keep Your Head Up” represents an output from Keery that goes back to 80’s Soul, with a hint of Prince stemming from the glossy production and the sensual elements of Glam-Pop, with lyrics that feel suggestive and provocative, as Keery pleads: “Got to love yourself/Go ahead, touch yourself” to bring a feel of irreverent humour into the fold. The beat gradually becomes heavier and more synth-oriented as the first verse rolls along to “Take that time alone, before your heart belongs to someone else”, before the chorus introduces some robotic backing vocals to the scene, and Keery throws in a George Clinton-inspired Funk sensibility for the chorus, with a joyous set of percussion and a vivid series of piano notes that mix with the jaunting electronics to craft a well-rounded percussion section. The breakdown at the end feels chaotic, with a glitzy set of Funk-laden instrumentals and a heavy use of synthesized vocal effects, before a brief and swinging Horn section enters the picture and the Saxophone solo gives the overly electronic vocals a rest. The production is a flashy and polished affair, while the overall sound is blending elements of 70’s Psych-Funk and 80’s Synth-Pop together with a current EDM undertone, similarly to his contempories like Jacob Collier. I feel there is perhaps a bit of an over-use of the auto-tune effects here, but that’s probably down to my personal preference because it also works well as a stylistic choice with the drowning synth sequences and the experimental layout of the sequencing, but there is a clear love for Nu-Jazz in here, and it feels sophisticated in it’s approach, so it turns out to be a pleasant surprise overall, although I think my heart is set on Natalia Dyer always being my favourite from Djo’s Netflix series – I think she is just wonderful!

Pictured: Djo (Joe Keery) visiting the AOL Build series studio in New York (2019) (via J.Kempin/Getty)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! As usual, please feel free to join me again tomorrow. I will be taking an in-depth listen to a recent single from a British Dream-Pop trio, who nobody seems to really know anything at all about, and they’ve been building up their following with a big sense of mystery, following their delightfully warm singles “Empty Beach” and “One Time Villain”. 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/