Today’s Track: Yu Su – “Every Star Has It’s Own Story”

May 11, 2020 — Leave a comment

This is a track from a DJ who is astronomically blowing up! It’s time for your new post!

Pictured: Yu Su in an independent photoshoot for Beatportal.com (2020) (Photo Credit: Michaela Dutkova)

Good afternoon to you, I’m a slightly-less-energetic-than-usual Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! “Every Star Has It’s Own Story” is a hidden gem that I found out about from the Resident Advisor website. It’s an ambient electronic house track created by Yu Su, a DJ and sound engineer, who was born in Kaifeng, China but has now relocated to work in Vancouver, Canada. Yu Su is also known for being a part of the duo “You’re Me” with Canadian producer Scott Johnson Gailey. I can’t say that I’m very familiar with her work beforehand, but you can buy “Every Star Has It’s Own Story” as part of the seven-track compilation EP “Dreaming With Friends” produced by the Eating Music independent dance label and created entirely by female Asian Techno DJ’s like Cocoonics, Dodogo and Huan Huan. It was released on February 20th 2020. Let’s listen to “Every Star Has Its Own Story” below…

“Every Star Has Its Own Story” is a groove-led Heavy Techno mix of Cosmic proportions, with a spacious looping bassline interspersing with acutely layered drum notes to create an Earthly and Oriental variety of soft ambient textures. There seems to be a West African inspiration in the sound of the Conga-like steel drum beats and the subdued production style, but it also sounds contemporary and somewhat futuristic. The chorus section is led by an upbeat groove which has a consistently bubbling bassline, teasing a full-blown breakdown of Synthesized keyboard riffs and breathy guitar licks, but the dreamy vocals keep it bubbling under the surface, to create a Deep House quality. It sounds experimental in it’s design, but there seems to be a more Soulful element which gets obscured by the stop-and-start nature of the Acid House influences and the bright, luminous synth effects. Overall, it might seem to be rather quiet and subdued on a first listen, but the layers unfold on repeated listens to create a very airy and well-spaced sequence of sound effects that feel self-contained within the bassline, but still manage to evoke a hazy, warm feeling through the wide attention to detail in each of the production touches. The result is nostalgic ambience at it’s least expected, but a very melodic and sharp World sound at it’s best.

Pictured: Yu Su in a promotional photoshoot for a Triple J “Mix Up” feature (in 2019) (Photo Credit: abc.net.au)

Thank you very much for reading his post! I hope you really enjoyed it! Stay at home, don’t do anything silly and keep washing those hands! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with an in-depth look at a more well-known track from an English Indie Rock band from Chesire who are named after a type of bird and reformed following a long hiatus for a charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall set up in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust last year! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Riot In Lagos”

April 29, 2020 — Leave a comment

Kaiser Chiefs would never be able to Predict a Riot in Lagos! It’s time for a new post…

Pictured: Ryuichi Sakamoto pictured on the back cover art of a 12″ vinyl copy of “B-2 Unit” (1980) (via Plexus)

Good morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music each day! I’ve been listening to a LOT of American radio lately, as a way of broadening my horizons and exploring interesting music beyond the UK’s bubble. I was rather surprised to find that I’d never heard of Ryuichi Sakamoto, a Japanese electronic composer, prior to hearing “We Love You” being played in the early hours on KEXP, a Washington-based Community radio station. From co-founding Yellow Magic Orchestra in the late 1970’s to scoring the Oscar darling film “The Revenant” in 2015, the guy’s done a lot. My favourite release is “Riot In Lagos”, a funky track that was self-produced by Sakamoto for his second solo album “B-2 Unit” in 1980. For “B-2 Unit”, Sakamoto decided to ditch the compositional pop style of Yellow Magic Orchestra to explore his interest in ambient textures and tones rather than using Yellow Magic Orchestra’s more traditionally packaged-up formula. Check out “Riot In Lagos” below.

You could argue that nothing else really sounded like “Riot In Lagos” in the 1980’s and, in 2020, not much has changed at all because barely anything still does. This strange and experimental electro-dance record establishes a very futuristic aesthetic through it’s propulsive acid-house interludes and it’s restless, skittering breakbeat sections that make up the bulk of the verses. There’s no lyrics to speak of, but the abstract nature of the bustling, oriental techno-bleeps and an intriguing, uniquely post-modern take on the broad classical music genre, provides us with the result of a very timeless and sophisticated backdrop to the combination of an African dancehall-like energy and a more densely layered, science-fiction based Ambient House soundscape. In a few ways, Ryuichi Sakamoto also draws on the grooves of Afrobeat in his focus of creating repetitively composed, propellant melodies that feel danceable, in transporting the G-Funk mannerisms of Fela Kuti to a filtered electronic setting. The results are strikingly effective, with a nostalgic video-game soundtrack linking up with a techno-modernist House sound that feels influential for the likes of Plaid and Autechre 10 years later, along with Four-Tet and Peggy Gou in slightly later times. Basically, it’s Funk music, but created by machines – Count me as a fan already.

Pictured: Ryuichi Sakmoto pictured with the 2017 vinyl re-issue of his album “B-2 Unit” (1980) in Korea (via Facebook)

Thank you for reading this post! As always, I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at the brand new single from an English songwriter originally signed to Rough Trade Records who is also the son of Ian Dury and he modeled on the front cover artwork of Ian Dury’s debut album “New Boots and Panties” released back in 1977! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Ratgrave – “World Aid”

April 18, 2020 — Leave a comment

Did you know that a Rat’s favourite game is Hide and Squeak? It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Ratgrave (Max Graef & Julius Conrad) in a still from their “World Aid” music video (2020) (via YouTube)

I’ve never seen a rat turning in it’s grave! Good morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m trying to lighten up your grey British weather Saturday with your daily post on the blog! It’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music each day! Ratgrave are an ambient experimental duo from Berlin in Germany, made up of producer Max Graef and engineer Julius Conrad. Although their names sound oddly familiar, I’ve just recently heard of them due to KEXP, an american radio station based in Seattle which played “World Aid” by Ratgrave at roughly 3.30am…. in California! This was the middle of the morning here in England. I enjoy listening to KEXP in the morning because it exposes me to a lot of music outside of the British indie bubble that I wouldn’t hear on the likes of BBC Radio 6Music or X-Posure on Radio X. Ratgrave are a “deep dive” – with figures of around 1,000 views when it comes to their recent music videos on YouTube. The duo are two multi-instrumentalists who are driven by their love of 1980’s soul, jazz and rock records, with a diverse variety of psychedelic influences that are sonically evident on their new album, “Rock”. It’s the duo’s first LP release under the Black Focus Records label! Let’s have a listen to “World Aid” below!

You might have noticed that my description of the duo’s sound was vague, but I didn’t want to spoil the suprise for you! Although the electronic production work on “World Aid” is fairly minimalist, the sound palette feels very cleansed, but it’s packed with a wide range of mismatched genres. The vocal range is very simple, with a single”I love myself” line, which sounds sun-soaked in a drum-groove melody and a continuous keyboard riff. Graef and Conrad were going for a highly spiritual, funk-infused sound on “Rock”, explaining, in a press release, that their original idea was to express: “the essence of energy and vibration we felt in different styles of music, almost like a parallel component connecting all things we like.”, deciding it as why they would simply name the album “Rock”. It’s a creative direction that has been displayed on “World Aid”. By far, the highlight of the track are the bizarre Pan Pipe melodies, which add a very Earthly and World-based tone to the eclectic Jazz-Funk rhythm of the track. This is a classical, old-fashioned style of instrumentation which doesn’t feel used very much, but Graef and Conrad keep repeating the same formula, over and over, for maximum effect. The Falsetto vocals add a disjointed Jukebox tone as they blend with the Balearic pipes and the playful Keyboard melodies. The sound design is psychedelic, a key component which feels abstract, but the delightfully “Plastic” keyboard riffs and the complex, skittering Dub beats add a warmth to the punchy, “misfit” ambient soundscape. It almost sounds like there’s a cohesive soulful disco tune hidden underneath the enigmatic, disjointed ambient textures. I find it difficult to identify what the duo’s visual aesthetic really is – judging from the art style of the music video for the track, but it’s intriguing. It may lack a slight focus to hold all the ideas together a little bit more tightly, but I love how the humour is obscure and the overall track is deliberately wonky. The result is a curiously vague, melodic pan-pipe tune that encompasses many different sub-genres of electronic Jazz, Soul and Funk at once and it’s hard to box the sound into a specific category. It’s not a track that I would expect the masses to “get”, but I wouldn’t want them to, as “Ratgrave” is an intriguing creative playground of experimentation for Max and Graef to mess around with. Cleverly layered and fascinating – it’s a nice record to keep to yourself a little bit!

Pictured: Official track listing from the back of “Rock” (Released on 20th March, 2020) (via Black Focus Records)

Thank you for reading this post! I hope you enjoyed it and please make sure that you stay at home to save lives! To give us both something to do, why not join me on the blog tomorrow for your weekly Scuzz Sundays blog post? I’ll be revisiting a big, commercial hit from a British indie rock band who once had the best-selling debut album for Polydor Records! Noel Gallagher described watching the band perform live as a “religous experience” and they were subsequently labelled as “The Who of the 1990’s”! 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: FVLCRVM -“Words”

March 16, 2020 — Leave a comment

The name’s like an LOL or YOLO – There’s my attempt to cheer you up! New post time!

Pictured: FVLCRVM in a press photoshoot to promote the release of “Loose” (2018) (Photo Credit: New Noise Magazine)

Fear thee not, We haven’t reached the age of meme-ified, internet text-based stage titling- FVLCRVM is actually a name taken from a “mad Russian jet fighter” according to this DJ! Good evening, I’m Jacob Braybrooke, writing about your daily track on the blog, as it’s still my day-to-day pleasure to do so! I couldn’t find the real name of FVLCRVM, but he’s a Slovakian electronic music producer who I discovered through listening to NTS Radio last week. He played a live set at this year’s Eurosonic Festival at Groningen in The Netherlands, being described as one of the “stand-out” artists from the festival by radio presenter Kevin Cole. He began his career by playing the funk guitar in his church band before he formed a math-rock band with some friends from church, before he broke into the international dance club scene with “Hi!” in May 2017, a viral hit on YouTube, which gained support from Mixmag and Resident Advisor and has amassed over 42k views at time of writing. “Words” was released in 2018, but a new EP is due to arrive later this year. Let’s have a listen to “Words” below.

I could have left “Words” to speak for itself – but that would be lazy of me! The most recognizable element of the track, for me, after my first listen, was the similarity in voice to Damon Albarn, of Blur and Gorillaz fame, although the tone is more dance-centric and the synth-based instrumentation has a fairly post-apocalyptic texture. However, there’s a melodic bassline that feels ‘pop’ enough to add a decent level of accessibility and a gentle theme of hope. It’s matched by FVLCRVM’s smoothly filtered vocals, where he calls for action environmentally, singing: “The bitter/the pleasant/the status/the class wars” over a layered EDM stab which bubbles under the surface. The chorus is a simply delivered, minimalist vocal line: “It’s all just words to me”, which is layered underneath a gentle breath of treble and a skittering, sci-fi-ish acid strobe. FVLCRVM continues: “The sandstorm/The beaches/The bottom line/The human kind”, a repetitious hook he signs off: “I wish I understood you better”, before the developing composition falls off-kilter and goes into a chaotic state of frenzy, playing off the regular theme of inconsistency, due to the sudden tempo shifts and glitching progressions during the track. A slight gospel influence adds depth behind the track, lyrically, as FVLCRVM continues to recite his vocals and convey an important ecological message. Overall, it’s a track which caught me off-guard with it’s hidden complexities underneath it’s pop-driven dance melody, leaving us with a fairly strong interweaving of artistic expression, with an accessibility. This one’s a good ‘un!

Pictured: FVLCRVM in an official photoshoot for his talent agency’s website (2019) (via http://www.earth-agency.com)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual – with an in-depth look at an album-only track from a British, London-based Indie Rock band who have returned from a six-year hiatus, after working on solo projects – and have dabbled in experimenting with genres like Folk, World, Electronica and Jazz Fusion in their career, as well as being the Sunday night headliners of this year’s BBC Radio 6Music Festival in Camden two weekends ago. 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: DJ Shadow (feat. Run The Jewels) – “Kings and Queens”

March 14, 2020 — Leave a comment

Just like “Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker”, another trilogy finally meets it’s end – I really hope this is a slightly more satisfying one – it’s time for your Saturday blog post!

Pictured: DJ Shadow (Joshua Paul Davis) going record shopping and no doubt looking to add to his personal collection of over 60,000 records (2016) (Photo Credit: Derick Daily)

Good morning to the “Kings and Queens” – you, dear readers – who read my music musings every day! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, writing about your daily track on the blog, as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! I’m really fond of DJ Shadow, particularly “Endtroducing…”, his all-time classic album which he created with just a tape recorder and a turntable and an MPC-60 sampling machine and released in 1996 to universal acclaim. His latest album, “Our Pathetic Age”, is another belter – a double album comprised of instrumental tracks on one side and collaboration-heavy vocal tracks on the second side. I’ve previously covered “Rocket Fuel” and “Urgent, Important, Please Read”, two other tracks from the album, on my blog – so I thought I’d cover another one to cap off a nice little trilogy over the weekend on the blog for you! Have a listen to “Kings & Queens”, featuring hip hop duo Run The Jewels, below.

Run The Jewels are close friends to Joshua Paul Davis, having frequently collaborated on the bass-heavy single “Nobody Speak” from Davis’ previous album, “The Mountain Will Fall” from 2016, adding a dynamic to the new record which crafts a contrasting tone to the back half of the double album compared to the first side – it’s as if Davis has stopped creating melancholic drill ‘n’ bass beats and thrown a party, where he’s having a grand old time with his friends instead. “Kings & Queens” evokes a very celebratory, upbeat mood – even if the subject matter is dark – hinting at a hopeful future. El-P raps about his late grandmother: “I heard the story, just once with my mom/She said the bottles you held didn’t last very long/When you gave out, no one knew that you gone/Or knew that you couldn’t bring food to the dog” as Davis composes a skittering drum loop and a warm EDM trip, which he wraps around a soulful string sample. Killer Mike pays tribute to his mum, mentioning Denise (“Somethin’ bout the feel of this beat/Makes me think about Denise”), also mentioning his other family members like Lenny and Shonda, before he raps about the lessons his mother taught him: “‘Told me stand like a man/And never fold for these hoes”, before Shadow arranges an inspirational chorus filled with gospel-choir vocals, which are inflicted with string melodies and given more depth by a stuttering breakbeat pause. The topical humor is witty and anecdotal, with a personal flavour of storytelling and narration which feels appropriate given the wider themes of the album as a whole. A bright past is reminisced about and a peaceful future is less distant on “Kings & Queens”, an outstanding hit of string-based hip-hop that manages to be dance-oriented and lyrically impactful in equal measure. The art work of “Our Pathetic Age” is incredible too – I’d really like to get a physical copy for my collection!

Pictured: Run The Jewels (Killer Mike & El-P) posing backstage at Fortress Fest in Fort Worth, Texas (2017) (Photo Credit: Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

If you haven’t caught up with the rest of my DJ Shadow trilogy of posts yet, you can read my thoughts on “Rocket Fuel”, featuring 80’s hip-hop legends De La Soul here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/08/19/todays-track-dj-shadow-feat-de-la-soul-rocket-fuel/, and “Urgent, Important, Please Read”, featuring the combined talents of Rockwell Knuckles, Tef Poe and Dameon, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/07/todays-track-dj-shadow-feat-rockwell-knuckles-tef-poe-daemon-urgent-important-please-read/

Pictured: Cut Chemist (Lucas MacFadden) producing with DJ Shadow in their studio (2014) (via Flood Magazine)

Thank you for reading my post – I hope you have a nice day! Make sure you check back with the blog tomorrow, where I’ll be taking you on a leisurely stroll down memory lane with a new “Scuzz Sundays” blog post – where I revisit a late 1990’s or mid 2000’s emo-punk track in honor of the late-great Scuzz TV freeview rock music video channel. 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: Moby – “Power Is Taken”

March 7, 2020 — 1 Comment

In the words of the great Scott Pilgrim in the 2010 Edgar Wright-directed cult classic film, “Once you were a Vegan and now you will be gone”! – It’s time for your new post!

Pictured: Moby (Richard Melville Hall) with his “Vegan For Life” neck tattoo (2020) (Photo Credit: Jonathan Nesvadba)

Did I mention that he’s a Vegan? I’m Jacob Braybrooke, writing about your daily track on the blog, as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! “Power Is Taken” is the 90’s EDM-rave new track from American electronic composer Moby, who is also a famous animal rights activist and a bestselling author, having published four books, including two memoirs and a photo gallery. He was born in 1965 and raised in Harlem, before moving over to New York City in 1990 to pursue his interest in Electronic music and he then became a very prolific DJ after finding his roots in the underground Punk scene in the decade prior. “Go” and “Porcelain” were his breakthrough hits, before the release of his fifth album, “Play”, in 1999 – an album which is still regarded as one of the all-time best. His seventeenth album, “All Visible Objects”, is set to be released on May 15th via Little Idiot and Mute Records, with the new LP record facing a two month setback, as it was originally set for release in March. The album’s sales will go to eleven not-for-profit organizations. Let’s hear the new single, “Power Is Taken”, below.

The music video for “Power Of Taken” begins with a gleaming array of light ambience, before the comic-art drawings lead to a dramatic shift in tension, as a frightening strobe synth line and a beat-driven punch of siren noises, mixed with a Prodigy-esque, unashamedly mid-90’s drum machine melody. D.H. Peligro powerfully recites: “We who hate oppression/Must fight against the oppressors/Power is not shared/Power is taken”, a line which hints at a call of political action. That’s more or less it for the vocals, as an aggressive line of heavy synthesizers and energetic jolts of acid-techno beats maintain the forefront of the track. It slows down for a breather at the 3-minute mark, before the heavy layer of raved-up dance beats call for a final run, to the imagery of real-world brutality in the video. It has a very daring and aggressive nature, with a clear defiance in focus. The problem is how the vocals feel brief and vague, along with a repetitious EDM beat which doesn’t feel very contemporary. A rebellious and youthful spirit is created, adding a decent sense of tongue-in-cheek fun, but it lacks the meticulous production of Moby’s down-tempo phase. I’m also struggling to really identify who it’s for, as these kinds of rave tunes aren’t being played in mainstream venues anymore and the 90’s kids who fell in love with Moby in his peak era might not really go clubbing anymore and it’s not really the kind of track that you would sit and play at home either. The general gist is that it feels outdated, a sentiment of sadness since the underground trance genre still has a niche. I think that it’s fun and entertaining for a little while, but it’s sadly not very original or interesting!

Pictured: Moby (Richard Melville Hall) in a press shoot (2019) (Photo Credit: Mo Kaufer/www.dancingastronaut.com)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with another weekly installment of my Scuzz Sundays blog series! Be prepared to take a stroll down my personal memory lane of late 90’s to early 00’s emo punk anthems! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: The ORB – “Daze”

February 29, 2020 — Leave a comment

A track for you to vibe out to under the little fluffy clouds? It’s time for your new post!

Pictured: Alex Paterson (Programming) and Michael Rendall (Effects) (Photo Credit: http://www.theorb.com)

It’s quite the sunny Stoke day for me – which gives us the perfect excuse to stream the latest track from one of Britian’s most established Chillout acts – The Orb, an ambient electronic house duo originally set up by Alex Paterson and The KLF’s Jimmy Caulty in 1988 – which is now comprised of Paterson and Michael Rendall. The Orb are best known for their 1991 classic “Little Fluffy Clouds”, which led to the duo becoming known for their following inside drug-induced clubs where their fans would “wind down” by listening to their neo-psychedelic remixes of Dub and Chill sequences. Their new LP record, “Abolition Of The Royal Familia” is currently slated for release on March 27th via the Cooking Vinyl label – with the title seeming like one of the obscure science fiction references which The Orb have become very synonymous for, in their long career since the late 1980’s. The new LP, their sixteenth studio album release overall, features guest appearances from the likes of Roger Eno, Nick Burton (former rotating member of The Orb), Andy Cain, Gaudi, Violetta Vicci and more – who will all be bringing their talents in a collaborative effort with the British humor and the witty sample-based elements of The Orb’s old-school psych-funk sensibilities. The most vital of which, however, is… Leika The Dog! Let’s watch her go on a cosmic canine trip to the moon and back in the music video for “Daze (Missing & Messed Up Mix)” below.

Fairly low production vales aside – the video for “Daze (Missing and Messed Up Mix)” elicits a few decent chuckles out of me, and I feel like the single is reasonably good as well. I particularly enjoyed the opening, as a sample-led blast of vocals, drowned in echoed reverberation, proudly exclaims: “A soul sound sensation”, before a swirling strobe of Balearic synths take control of the melodic hook, leading to a slightly down-tempo affair of genre-blurring composition, as a soulful refrain leads the vocal part: “You’ve been missing for days/missing..”, a simple line which is given a little more depth through an unashamedly 70’s disco element, as a vintage sample adds enough ooh’s and wooh’s to also craft a dance-able pop rhythm. The track also contains a light hop-hop element under a 90’s ambience glaze, which is created from a subtle strings arrangement and a modulated Conga drum sound. It mostly sounds like an eclectic and meticulously engineered affair of The Orb doing their classic dub-psychedelia twang best. It’s business as normal for The Orb, with an uptempo groove put together by a jam-packed sample part, which reminds me of the nostalgic adventure sound of The Avalanches “Since I Left You”. However, I don’t think it’s engineered in as much detail and in a peculiar sense, I don’t feel it really goes anywhere else, the soulful melodies are consistent but lacking in a vigorous quality to push it forwards slightly more than it’s been presented, as I feel the vocal refrain gets a little too repetitious for it’s own good. This is more the style of track that I would sit down and have on during a long train journey, rather than before a big night-out, as it does have an upbeat, traditional Chillout pop texture, but it doesn’t veer so much into free-spirited dance territory. Although I do think the track is missing another element of sound to give the overall sound a touch more excitement and just a little bit more oomph, I think the track does what it sets out to do very adequately. The slight infliction of wit is a twinkling highlight and it’s very engaging how the sound mixes elements of hip-hop, dub, ambient house, psychedelic soul and good, old-fashioned pop without losing much of it’s cohesive structure. A likeable little anthem.

Pictured: Alex Paterson and Michael Rendall enjoying a garden day… in the bushes! (Orb-approved press shot)

You can also read my thoughts on The Orb’s 90’s classic “Little Fluffy Clouds” here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/18/todays-track-the-orb-little-fluffy-clouds/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Abolition Of The Royal Familia” (Available on 27th March, 2020) (via Cooking Vinyl)

Thank you or reading this post! I’m writing a new installment of my weekly Scuzz Sundays series on the blog tomorrow – a weekly thowback to the late 90’s and early-mid 00’s punk or emo rock anthems of old that you might remember seeing on the defunct Scuzz TV Freeview music video channel. It will be a mainstream chart hit from a band who, as a running joke in their music videos, use their previous singles during the introductions of their videos! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Caribou – “Never Come Back”

February 28, 2020 — Leave a comment

Suddenly… Dan Snaith has a brand new Caribou LP out! It’s time for your Friday post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Never Come Back” (2019)

It’s Friday, which means it’s the end of the week, but it also signals the release of a dozen new albums and singles, with Caribou’s “Suddenly” taking the spotlight on the blog this week! In case you’re unaware, Caribou is an electronic project set up by Canadian composer Dan Snaith, who also writes and records material as Daphni and Manitoba. It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from him, with 2014’s “Our Love” becoming a beloved LP record in the years since. “Suddenly”, released today on City Slang Records and Merge Records, is a photo album of a record where Snaith analyses the events in his life which surround him, such as his daughter being born in a Car on the way to the hospital. The album also deals with loss and memory, in the form of carefully textured soundscapes. I’ve recently been introduced to Snaith’s work with the release of “Home”, the lead single of the album, as Snaith has drummed up enough interest with me for me to own a physical copy for my record collection, which I’ve only just started. Let’s have a listen to the track “Never Come Back” below.

A sophisticated and enthralling track which veers into slightly commercial territory, but it confidently manages not to lose the vocally emotive trademark of Caribou’s sound, “Never Look Back” is a synthetic dance-pop delight that doesn’t miss a step in it’s stabbing EDM strobes and it’s uptempo pacing. With a sultry tone, Snaith repeats: “And you never come back to”, in sequenced timing with a consistent House trance, which is layered over the top of a 90’s-esque keyboard loop. The melodic stricture keeps stuttering, but Snaith adds the sound of a happy-go-lucky Cowbell and an unrelenting drum machine chord, which kicks into full-throttle mode near the end of the track. Before proceedings get too repetitious, Snaith refrains: “I can never forget it/Promise me you don’t regret it/You and I were together/even though we both knew better”, as the pop-filled rhythm begins to settle into a slower pace, before Snaith quickly pushes the makeshift-disco sound to the center of attention again. The track does sound a little poppier by his typical standards, but I feel that Snaith manages to cross over to a casual audience, who might be seeing him at festivals this summer, fairly wisely because he manages to effectively control the chaos by letting it sound familiar to his existing fans, while adding a crowd-pleasing, throwback dance sound to his existing repertoire. The single also translates the cohesive themes of the album, as the sultry vocal hook is kept consistent to contrast the breakneck changes of tempo and rhythm. It’s an ace track from an album which is set to deliver on it’s hype.

Pictured: Dan Snaith recording in his home studio

I’ve previously covered a few of Caribou’s other singles taken from the new record on the blog! Click here to read my thoughts on my discovery of “Home” (https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/28/todays-track-caribou-home/) and click here to read my thoughts on “You and I” (https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/09/todays-track-caribou-you-i/)

Pictured: Dan Snaith pictured in front of a mural to accompany the announcement of “Suddenly” (2020) (via PR)

Thank you for reading this post! It’s almost time for another weekly Scuzz Sundays post, but, before then – make sure that you check back with the blog tomorrow, where I’ll be writing an in-depth review, for you, on the new single from a legendary British electronic dance duo who are known for producing Dub and Chillout anthems which have been described by Alex Paterson as “ambient house for the E generation”! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: The ORB – “Little Fluffy Clouds”

February 18, 2020 — 1 Comment

These guys sharpened up their “Orb-anization” skills for this! It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld) (Released in 1991) (via Big Life)

I hope you’re not getting soaked in the rain too much! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, writing about your daily track on the blog, as with any other day! Although I’m not very familiar with The Orb – a landmark 1990’s ambient electronica project set up by English producer Alex Paterson – with his partner-in-crime being changed over the years, with Thomas Fehlmann currently in the seat, taking over from original co-founder Jimmy Cauty, a former member of the KLF – I can still appreciate everything that the act has done in progressing their ambient electronica genre to new heights since the duo released their debut album, “The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld”, in 1991. A total of 15 LP records have been released ever since, with a sixteenth set to drop in March this year. The Orb are a pioneering spirit of the 90’s psychedelic EDM music and drug-infused clubbing scenes they’ve become very beloved for channeling a hefty part across the last two decades, where they used to perform live with digital audio tape machines which they’ve programmed live sampling and beat mixing with, a technique they still perform with the use of laptops, since everything’s moved on from analogue production to digital effects. The Orb have been embarking on a recent 30th Anniversary Tour and they’ve been confirmed for this year’s All Points East Festival lineup. “Little Fluffy Clouds” was a landmark in their discography, a chilled ambient folktronica-style track which reached #10 in the UK Singles Chart following a reissue in 1993. Let’s listen to the edit of the track below.

A melodic sci-fi anthem which stands up to the heavyweight influences of The Prodigy and Aphex Twin in the early 90’s time of it’s ilk – “Little Fluffy Clouds” sounds instantly familiar, with the track receiving heavy licensing use for many films and television series. The lead vocals have a whimsical quality which feels reminiscent of a lullaby you might tell a child before bedtime, as a female vocal narrator recites a story of adventure and maturation with “Little Fluffy Clouds” as the centerpiece, she reads: “What were the skies like when you were young?/They went on forever and they, when I lived in Arizona/And the skies always had little fluffy clouds”, with the chronological structure of the narrative being obscured by virtuosic sampling effects and complex synth patterns. It’s the kind of track you’d be best off listening to on a good pair of headphones to experience every little nuance of sound, as the layers are meticulously programmed on top of of an irregular keyboard riff and erroneous tones of chilled house. This quality is lyrically referenced in the track: “Layering different sounds on top of each other”, leading to a pulsating bass vibration to the tune of: “The sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire”, with the refrain broken up by a sample of an airplane taking off. There’s also a light sample of a weather documentary and a rooster clucking in the beginning, blatantly creating a dream-like opening which transpires as a recurrent theme in the euphoric arrangement of strings and mid-tempo synth pads. Due to it’s eclectic range of assorted samples, with their highly manipulation composition – the track is a complex work of true art and a dream-scoped soundscape rewarding of multiple listens to shape your own interpretation and experience of. It’s very easy to get obsessed about – and The Orb’s fandom really are! It’s fitting since the track was listed at #40 in Pitchfork’s Top 200 Tracks Of The 1990’s and also #275 in NME’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs Of All-Time.

Pictured: Alex Paterson (Programming) and Thomas Fehlman (Effects) (Photo Credit: http://www.theorb.com)

Whew, there’s a lot to talk about! Don’t forget to join me tomorrow, where I will be introducing you to a fantastic independent singer-songwriter who has previously been collaborating with Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner and she also performed her own track for the second season of the “True Detective” crime-drama TV series under a different name! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Gary Clail (On-U Sound System) (feat. Bim Sherman) – “Beef (Future Mix)”

February 10, 2020 — 1 Comment

I’ve got no issue with this beef! A new week, a new set of posts, starting with this one!

Pictured: A still image featuring Gary Clail in the official music video for “Another Hard Man” (1995)

I would usually be cooking a meatless meal in aid of the Meat Free Mondays campaign tonight, but since I’m covering a track with the title of “Beef”, it’s hard to know whether that’s necessarily gone out of the window this week! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, covering your daily track on the blog, as always. I’ve noticed that I’ve been covering a lot of new tracks on the blog lately and so I thought it would make a nice change to share a little 90’s house track which I’ve recently found out about, which comes courtesy of Gary Clail, An English DJ and recording producer who made a name for himself from the Bristol music scene in the 1990’s, a little before the late 1990’s IDM movement featuring the likes of Aphex Twin, Plaid and Boards Of Canada. The founder of On-U Sound Records and the producer of early 90’s club hits like “Human Nature” and “These Things Are Worth Fighting For”, Clail established himself as an important fixture of the underground electronic music side of the 90’s dance craze. “Beef” is an interesting old record which is taken from his second LP, “End Of The Century Party”, which he released as Gary Clail On-U Sound System in 1989. There was no music video, but the future mix audio of “Beef” is available on YouTube below.

Clail repeats: “Beef, how low would you go?” over a fluctuating snare line as he reminds me of the Limbo games that I used to play at the end-of-term party at Primary School. It’s an upbeat, groove-driven synth hook which is used to anchor the diverse arrangement of the track. The instrumental disco sound is heavily infused with light elements of nu-disco and dark-wave synthpop, with an overall Dub-plate format. The pacing is noticeably inflected with Reggae and Clail adds a sense of ambient techno vibes to proceedings with his gradually building layout of BPM rises and synthetic funk-tinged vibrations. The vocals float above a layer of politicized themes and minor-key drum-and-bass sensibilities which provide a catalyst for the propelling drum waves and the building tempo of the vibraphone riffs. I’ve heard a story that Clail nicked the lyrical refrain from an old Public Enemy classic, “Bring The Noize”, released in 1988. He reworks the phrase: “Bass, how low can you go” and he replaces the line of “Death row, what a brother knows” with the intercepting vocals of “Hear the cry/Cattle row”, led by a chant-based question of “Would you kill it yourself?”, a not-so subtle comment which supports the ideas of Vegetarianism. Overall, I believe it’s a cohesive house anthem which brings the best out of the different elements which it musically pulls it’s influences from, as the track sounds uniformly structured and it effectively pulls a wide array of talent together. Constructively, I find the vocal hooks to sound a little under-cooked, if you pardon the pun, as the slow build doesn’t necessarily lead to a fast payoff, but it sounds like Clail has some fascinating political views to express – which I’m inclined to explore further.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “End Of The Century Party” (1989/On-U Sound Records) (Photo from eBay.com)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at the new track from the leading man of REM – I was in a curry shop when I heard the band had split up and I fell in the Korma! 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/