New Album Release Fridays: Bloc Party – ‘If We Get Caught’

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and its time for me to get writing up for 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! With new albums by Royksopp, Toro Y Moi, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Kelly Lee Owens, Honeyglaze, Dana Gavanski and more all arriving today, you really can take your pick for ‘Album Of The Week’ because there seems to be something for everybody among the release slate today. I have been coloured intrigued by Bloc Party, therefore, as the established PLUG Award-winning and 30 million album-selling London rock band are entering a crucial new chapter of their careers with ‘Alpha Games’ – their sixth studio album – which is out now, as of today, via BMG/Infectious Records. The main draw for the record is how it is their first to feature their new line-up, as Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong have been replaced by Louise Bartle and Justin Harris. The urban rock band have been actively promoting the record as a twist on the band’s old dynamic, giving the sense they are steering away from their tried-and-tested formula in favour of something new, as Kele Okereke said “We’re not the same band now. The chemistry is different” and “We have a history and a legacy, but I’m more excited about the energy we have right now“, in a recent interview with NME’s Mark Beaumont. It also brings producers like Dan Carey, of Speedy Wunderground fame, on board as well. It has been backed by interesting singles like ‘Traps’ and ‘The Girls Are Fighting’, which have sounded edgy in new ways despite feeling like Bloc Party. Check out the latest single – ‘If We Get Caught’ – below.

There are only two songs that I feel like have any tenderness on the record, and ‘If We Get Caught’ is one of them“, Kele Okereke says about the LP’s penultimate track in a press release, adding, “It’s really about recognizing that the game is coming to an end and about trying to steal a moment of tenderness with your partner before the curtain comes crashing down. I think it’s about trying to find moments where you can really connect with someone amid all of the chaos that’s going on in the world“, in his evaluation. While the other singles have boasted a sharper set of fangs, being defined by their sleazy punk theatrics and their intense guitar riffs, ‘If We Get Caught’ feels more like an indie anthem by-the-numbers with a decidedly more downbeat, yet still melodic, pace. A subtle, vintage Art-Rock touch and the staccato vocals of the chorus, where the acidic and playful vibes of singles like ‘Traps’ and ‘Sex Magic’ are replaced by a sound that seems more emotionally driven. Okereke chimes in with lyrics like “Where you go/I will go” and “Stick to the story, better with an alibi/Create diversion, take control with sleight of hand” that, while retaining a relatively straightforward Dance-Rock feel, are supported neatly by a slight rap delivery that Okereke uses in the verses, before he is supported by some cooing backing vocals by Bartle and airy bass guitar riffs in the chorus. Lyrics like “If we get caught/I want you to know/I will always, ride for you” capture the quality of trying to eek out a final moment of intimacy before an inevitable final goodbye, wringing out the joy of a doomed relationship, nicely in the chorus. A light channeling of the indie rock ghosts of the 80’s and 90’s mostly characterizes the visuals and emotions here, with Okereke and the rest of the band creating a sense of unity and strength by giving the impression that there is little sense of anger whatsoever. I feel that Okereke has created a fresh outlet for himself in his solo material, with side project releases like ‘2042’ feeling more fascinating and inspired than some of his main Bloc Party music in some cases, and I can see some of that influence spreading out into new avenues here. While ultimately not quite as interesting or experimental, it feels different to the music that I’ve heard by Bloc Party or may expect to hear from them because it feels more intimate, and so I feel like the goal of mixing up their recycled tropes has been achieved here, even if the sound is a little more generic in some ways. An enjoyable single that would sound great on the UK’s mainstream radio, ‘If We Get Caught’ makes it clear that Bloc Party are not attempting to emulate their past efforts too slavishly, as this one strikes a more full-tilted and introspective chord with me – and this is an effective way to play the game.

If you’re already a fan of this NME Album Of The Year-winning band, the party doesn’t need to end here as you can check out each of my other Bloc Party-related posts here:

‘Traps’ (2022) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2022/01/08/todays-track-bloc-party-traps/

‘Helicopter’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/11/07/scuzz-sundays-bloc-party-helicopter/

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and we will be looking ahead to the new month tomorrow with my review for a recent single by an established Australian indie rock band who will be releasing a new album within May. Formed in Melbourne in 2013 by three vocalists-guitarists, they have gained attention by the AIR Awards, Australian Music Prize, Music Victoria Awards and others.

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Today’s Track: Dama Scout – ‘Emails From Suzanne’

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has almost come for you to delete all of the junk mail in your inbox folder after you’ve finished reading 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! An Indie Punk trio comprised of vocalist/guitarist Eva Liu, bassist Scot Lucci and drummer Daniel Grant, Dama Scout were formed in 2016 and they subsequently spent years self-producing nightmarish soundscapes traversing through Noise-Pop and Industrial Rock in the studio, dividing their time between Glasgow and London. The band’s name derives from a line said by the protagonist of Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ to whom Liu has long related, as ‘Dama’ means woman or deer. You can find support for the trio on sources like The Line Of Best Fit, BBC Introducing, NTS Radio, Amazing Radio and DIY. Their debut LP – ‘Gen Wo Lai (Come With Me)’ – was released on April 22nd via Hand In Hive, and it draws from East Asian Pop and Rock influences. An LP project that was assembled internally – with all of the material getting written, recorded, mixed and produced by Dama Scout themselves – and it explores the ethnicity of Eva Liu, who was born in Northern Ireland by two parents from Hong Kong, thus becoming an object of school playground curiosity. Their bold full-length outing is a soundtrack for her journey of attracting unwanted attention in her adolescence to becoming comfortable with her identity as a young adult, told in the form of harsh Dream-Pop backdrops and various genre fluid explorations. Check your crowded inbox for ‘Emails From Suzanne’ below.

Dama Scout says the promotional single pays homage to “the world’s finest vessel of passive aggression, wrought with the sincerest best wishes, high in frequency, low in fidelity – the email” and it is enriched vividly by the visual work of the accompanying music video, which the band pitch as “a short documentary exploring the death of the office, the nature of emerging flexible work environments and the relationship between labor and the millennial condition of perpetual adolescence“, in a press statement. On that note, a disturbing slice of visual imagery is a suitable companion to the thick walls of distortion and push-and-pull pacing on ‘Emails From Suzanne’ as a sharp, piercing ode to the passive aggression of workplace communication through online messaging. The lyrics are decidedly fragmented, with sequences like “How could/I have done it/All before” and “What is her name?, I ask/Is she wanted?, Any background information?” being repeated throughout the track with a collage-style, loose structure. They are evoked by a sense of Liu muttering under her breath, getting light frustrations and underlying anger across as the emerging feel of catharsis slowly makes its way to the forefront of the loud, quirky tune by the time that it reaches the end. The track twists through the grit of 90’s Riot Grrrl in the breathy bite of the vocals and the aggressive character of the backing band’s sections, while turning through more modern explorations of Shoegaze and Hyper Pop in the ear-catching viscerality of the full-blast guitar rhythms and the rather whimsical finale punctuated by the heightened instrumentals which evoke a nightmarish, anxiety-inducing tone. Rather than having a twisted sweetness to it that brings in some unsettling elements, ‘Emails From Suzanne’ is a little more intent on delivering some high-octane Dream Rock and brooding melodies to give the feeling that something is lurking in the dark corners of the underworld. It is not for everybody due to how outright angry that it sounds, but that’s no discredit to the risks that Dama Scout are taking and how they structure their recorded material with their slow builds that replicate the feeling of a live performance. It does not feel massively improvised, but it bears a decent amount of depth to it and there are flashes of a fresh band who are daring to be different even if the thick walls of distortion feel a little bit played out in their genre, a trope they aren’t necessarily subverting. Although the band have a limited discography, cuts like ‘Emails From Suzanne’ are promising in showcasing an emerging act who have the spirit to forge their own roads in a market that is not currently experiencing a dearth of new talent. A welcome invitation to the, sometimes frightening yet often Utopian, world of a 3-piece who are in control of their career’s direction and musical trajectory.

Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and I will be back tomorrow as we go retro for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ with a revisit of a 90’s Hip-Hop classic that any fans of ‘Watch Dogs 2’ are going to love. Praised bu NPR and AllMusic, this duo from Long Island, New York were ranked as #5 on Rolling Stone’s list of ‘The 20 Greatest Duo’s Of All Time’ in 2015 and, unfortunately, their lost material was a victim of the Universal fire which affected hundreds of artists, whose tapes were destroyed in 2008.

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Scuzz Sundays: Hard Fi – ‘Hard To Beat’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m wishing you a good Easter Sunday with my latest installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! To be 100% transparent, I barely thought about ‘Easter’ this year and since ‘Easter Music’ isn’t really a thing, and it is not inclusive for all cultures and relgions anyway, I thought that I’d simply cover a band who have been in the news lately this week. The band in question is Hard-Fi, who released three albums between the years of 2004 and 2011 which all did decent business, spawning well-remembered hit singles like ‘Cash Machine’ and ‘Living For The Weekend’ in the process, before going on hiatus in 2014. The band received one Mercury Prize and two BRIT Awards nominations for their work, as well as a #1 album in 2007 and a 2x platinum certification for the sales of their debut album. They also dipped their toes into podcasting with their series ‘Hard-Fi: Rockin’ The City’ that was widely available in 2007 and even got nominated for ‘Best Podcast’ at the Digital Music Awards that year. I think that ‘Hard To Beat’ must be their best-known single as it did the rounds on the soundtracks of ‘FIFA 06’ and ‘MLB 06: The Show’ shortly following release and it reached #9 on the UK Singles Chart as well as #34 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks Chart in the US too. If you’ve been following Hard Fi-related news lately – and you would be forgiven if you haven’t honestly due to them not being around for such a long time – they have been teasing a rare fifteenth anniversary show for ‘Stars Of CCTV’ with posters spotted on the London Underground that features a date pointing to a gig in mid-October. Just don’t shout ‘Hard-Fi’ if you see it next to your fellow passengers because they would probably take you for some kind of a mental lunatic. Let’s revisit ‘Hard To Beat’ below.

A series of social media posts relating to ‘Stars Of CCTV’ have been posted gradually by Hard-Fi elsewhere and they have not performed live together since 2014. In April 2020, Richard Archer – the frontman of the Staines-Upon-Thames formed indie rock outfit – told NME that Hard-Fi were considering a return to the stage to mark their unforgotten first album’s 15-year milestone, saying, “That album has defined people’s lives and when they were growing up. We’ll definitely do it at some point, but with new music too so we’re not just trading on past glories”, in an interview. ‘Hard To Beat’ takes obvious cues from Daft Punk’s ironically overplayed 2002 hit track ‘One More Time’ with filtered disco guitar sounds mixing with a more urban twist created by the lightly distorted Synths and Grunge-driven Bass melodies. Lyrics like “You in a short skirt/Shining eyes of deep brown/You had a dirty hook, you caught me on your hook” feel rhythmic and have a catchy twang to them, but the light darkness of the sexually aroused emotions consummates the rather evident marriage between the LCD Soundystem-influenced House genre explorations and the more “ladd-ish” feel of the ruthlessly driving mid-00’s lead guitar riffs. A hint of paranoia comes through, with lyrics like “I said come on, let’s dance/We’ve got to take our chance/You whispered in my ear/You wanna get out of here?” that talk about living in an environment like London, even though the band are much closer to Cornwall. Some obvious shots of Franz Ferdinand and The Clash are in here too, with the danceable Synths drawing out the vocals at the end and gruff Drum melodies riffing against the slightly more expansive electronic effects that create the Disco vibe most vibrantly. There is a light political commentary on surveillance and urban decay within their songwriting in the grander scheme of things beyond ‘Hard To Beat’ as a standalone single, but Archer doesn’t quite have the sharp-pointed vocal dexterity of Maximo Park’s Paul Smith or the socially observational abilities of Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner – two comparable indie rock bands that also found fame in a similar timeframe – but there’s an admirable attempt to ground the material in a sense of place that isn’t just tied to London in here, nevertheless. The Disco vibe is damn infectious too, but the lyricism works better when they’re smoothly trying to pick up love interests instead of reciting pains of urban dilapidation. That said, the track is a fun and melodic single that wears it’s influences on it’s sleeves and it simply feels very catchy. It felt a little disposable for the time but, admittedly, it still gets a fair amount of airplay today. It has stood the test of time because it is so memorable and pretty dynamic, if nothing very special. It goes to show that sometimes a simple throwback is, well, hard to beat.

Thank you for checking out my latest post because your support is absolutely valued every time, and I will be here kicking off the brand new week’s worth of music posts tomorrow with a review for a recent release by an Atlanta-based Hip-Hop duo who are also founding members of the Spillave Village collective. Their well-received second studio album, ‘Ghetto Gods’, was released in February via Dreamville Records.

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Today’s Track: DEHD – ‘Bad Love’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to invest in another daily track of the blog as we want to experience as many of those as we can before we drop DEHD, and it’s my duty given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! DEHD are a Garage Rock trio comprised of vocalist/bassist Emily Kempf, guitarist/vocalist Jason Balla and drummer Eric McGrady who have taken their sound to labels like Maximum Pelt, Infinity Cat Recordings and Fire Talk Records. They have toured across the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany in support of Twin Peaks, and their latest album was even granted the ‘Best New Music’ designation by Pitchfork. Citing the likes of Broadcast, Roy Orbinson and James Brown as some of their biggest influences, DEHD will be going on a North American Tour throughout the Spring that will find them stopping off at locations such as Boston, Denver, Austin, Toronto and more – with a concluding set at Governors Ball in New York in June. The follow-up LP to their critically acclaimed sophomore album – 2020’s ‘Flower Of Devotion’ – will also hit store shelves in the form of ‘Blue Skies’ on May 27th via Fat Possum Records. The group’s new album was recorded in the same studio as their last long-player effort, and the 13-track project allowed them to work with mastering engineer Heba Kadry and mixing engineer Craig Silvey for the first time. The lead single is ‘Bad Love’, which has been growing on me with recent airplay from BBC Radio 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq and KEXP’s Song Of The Day podcast as it recalls the Riot Grrrl movement with Mad Max visuals. The video was directed by Kevin Veleska and you can check it out below.

“Bad Love is about recovering from love addiction and making a decision to stop choosing and aligning with people who aren’t your energetic match”, Emily Kempf says about The Jesus & Mary Chain-inspired new single, adding, “I wrote it for myself and for everyone who needed to hear a song about choosing new forms of love. It’s about chasing a relationship with one-self rather than an unhealthy one, one that just doesn’t quite fit, or a co-dependent one”, in a press release. Starting off with a steady drum beat and a twangy lead guitar hook that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Blues or Alternative Folk record, Kempf revs up gradually to more violent pacing with “I was a bad love/Now I can get some/I got a heart full of redemption” before the more propulsive guitar riffs and the faster Drum beats take centre stage of the 00’s blog-rock aesthetic. The twangy energy remains, but lyrics like “Run baby run/Run from the bad love/New love baby, come on honey, give me some” and “Forgive me/Give it to me/Tell me what to do, tell me what to do to keep it” are given a more low-pitched howling that feels more nostalgic of its’ key influences and a propulsive setting, with a voice that howls and wails to the mid-tempo Post-Punk guitar instrumentation. The track gets more catchy and more punchy with subsequent listens, as the simplicity is also the beauty on this one. The track mainly recalls the punk-and-politics chops of the Riot grrrl times of the 90’s, while elements of Industrial music and Baroque Punk are also noticeable due to the variety of metallic, riotous and psychedelic textures throughout. Additional comparisons can also be made to Surf-Rock – as it takes a page out of The Beach Boys’ playbook in it’s mid-tempo pacing – as well as Blues, Desert Rock and Pop-Punk too. Ultimately, ‘Bad Love’ is a moving and effective new single that feels both nostalgic and diverse and it shows that DEHD are a charming trio who have legs, and their sound feels defined. There is no toxicity in this romance.

That brings me to the end of another refreshing post on the blog, and thank you very much for continuing to support the site each day. We’re coming up to ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ tomorrow, and we’ll be looking at an IDM record from the mid-90’s that, I feel, gets rather underrated. It comes from the British electronic music duo of Garry Cobain and Brian Douglas who have explored genres like Trip Hop, Psychedelia, Dub, Acid Techno, Dark Ambient, Industrial and House music. They are known for records like 1994’s ‘Lifeforms’ that have reached the UK Top 10 Albums Chart. They have also released music under aliases such as Polemical, Aircut and Amorphous Androgynous.

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Scuzz Sundays: Maximo Park – ‘Our Velocity’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to revisit one of the more ‘Scuzzy’ indie anthems of the mid-00’s as we remember the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past for ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the blog, which ties in to my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! Released in 2007, ‘Our Velocity’ is a ferocious Pop/Rock single coming from Newcastle Upon Tyne’s Maximo Park, led by their excellent and really energetic frontman Paul Smith. They seem to have been pigeon-holed a little into the ‘Indie Landfill’ of the 00’s where there were heaps upon heaps of other bands following some similar ideas musically, but Maximo Park have stood the test of time as they are still recording today. In fact, they gained a rather kind amount of praise for ‘Nature Always Wins’ – their latest full-length album record – an architecturally designed set list of tracks that became something of an unlikely comeback to the UK’s rock mainstream for the band, as a surprising campaign was led to help it score the UK’s number one album spot. It ended up reaching #2 – I like to think that some of the love was aided by my support on the site – with just a few hundred sales separating it from Architects ‘For Those That Wish To Exist’ at the #1 spot – at the time of it’s first week of release in February, 2021. At the time that ‘Our Velocity’ was being issued alongside its crafty music video, the band were following up on their Mercury Prize-nominated debut LP with ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’ in 2007. Suprisingly, their first album was actually released on the legendary experimental label Warp Records – the home of IDM pioneers such as Aphex Twin, Plaid, Boards Of Canada and Squarepusher. ‘Our Velocity’ was produced by Gil Norton, and it reached Silver sales certification status in the UK. Let’s remind ourselves of the hit track below.

Teletext’s Planet Sound music page named ‘Our Velocity’ as the best single of 2007, and it was also used in Channel 4’s ‘Hollyoaks’ TV series, as well as video games like ‘Guitar Hero: On Tour – Modern Hits’ and ‘Project Gotham Racing 4’ shortly following its release. Written by guitarist Duncan Lloyd and lyricist Paul Smith, the track was written as a response to the international conflicts that the UK was involved in at the time, mostly being the middle eastern wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. ‘Our Velocity’ starts off with a blend of 8-Bit synth effects that wouldn’t sound too out of place in a ‘Super Mario’ video game title, before the squelching guitar riffs and the tight Drum section introduces us to the next part of the track, where Smith recites dramatic yet poetic lyrics like “I’m not a man, I’m a machine/Chisel me down until I am clean” and “There is a poison in the air/A mix of chemicals and fear” that hit quite hard when you know about the influences behind the songwriting, and they are accentuated brilliantly by the vibrant mix of rock ‘n’ roll and electronic production. The rest of Smith’s lyrics come across like a ramble that comes from a stream of consciousness, with aggressive quips like “I’ve got no one to call in the middle of the night anymore/I am just alone with these thoughts” flowing out in contrast to more politically charged lines like “You’re asking for commitment/When I’m somewhere in-between” that pack a more socio-economic punch. True, if outspoken, lyrics like “If everyone became so sensitive/I wouldn’t have to be so sensitive” set the scene up too. The guitar riffs wind through the breakneck stages of being faster and faster each time, while the bass is frenzied and the pace briefly pulls away for a few minutes as Smith delivers the pre-chorus refrain, before the dizzying drums and the fizzy guitar riffs of a gently camp abandon separates the structure up a little to resemble a more radio-friendly sound. ‘Our Velocity’ is packed with a precise amount of lyrics and references, with plenty of ideas in terms of the instrumentation too, although it may come across to me as just a tad bit over-ambitious at times due to the chaotic nature of the layout. Paul Smith was bang on the money as the front-man of the piece however, and the execution of the music video is faultless. A superb showing that packs a lot into a concise run time.

Underrated no longer, you can check out some of Maximo Park’s most recent stuff here:

‘Baby, Sleep’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/30/todays-track-maximo-park-baby-sleep/

‘All Of Me’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/02/27/todays-track-maximo-park-all-of-me/

That’s all for now! Thank you for taking a little share of your time from your day to check out what’s been going on today right here at One Track At A Time, and your support is very highly appreciated by me. I’ll be back tomorrow to start the new week’s worth of music posts with a review of a recent single by a wonderfully proficient Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who has just released her debut solo album – ‘Under The New Light’ – via Last Gang Records. You may know her for her foremost roles in other bands and musical projects such as Dirty Projectors and Coco.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Gossip – ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to start spreading the word on the street (or the internet) that there is another daily track on the blog in town as we go retro for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Formerly known as ‘The Gossip’ – Gossip were a Beth Ditto-led punk rock band from Arkansas who were originally active between 1999 and 2016 who were another name in a fairly familiar string of Garage Rock Revival sub-genre bands like The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and The Hives who were also popular in the contemporary mainstream of the time. Exploring a mixture of indie rock, post-punk revival and dance-rock influences, they gained some breakthrough in radio charts popularity with their 2006 track ‘Standing In The Control’, a glitzy Pop-Punk number that reached the top ten of the UK Singles Chart and it has appeared on decade-end lists like NME’s ‘150 Best Tracks Of The Past 15 Years’ at the #34 rank on the list in 2011 and at #429 on Pitchfork’s ‘Top 500 Greatest Tracks Of The 2000’s’ list in late 2009. It was the lead single of Gossip’s third studio album of the same name released in 2006, which reached #1 on the UK’s Indie Chart and it has reached Gold status in the territory. Produced by Ryan Hadlock and Guy Picciotto, it was Gossip’s first album to feature new drummer Hannah Billie, of Seattle’s Chromatics fame. If you used to watch the British TV drama ‘Skins’ on E4, you would also know the track as it was proclaimed to be the ‘unofficial’ theme track of the programme as it featured heavily in promotional materials and it would be played on the DVD main menu’s of the series’ home release. Let’s remember it below.

The yellow, black and red graffiti-style cover artwork for the physical single release was designed by none other than Kim Gordon, the bassist of Sonic Youth. Meanwhile, the track itself was written as a response to the Federal Marriage Amendment, a highly controversial code of law that would have outlawed gay marriage across the US. With this theme in mind, the impassioned instrumentation and the reasonably soft, yet minimal and pulsating, lead vocals by Beth Ditto hit harder as a battle cry for empowered liberation than anybody who has ever felt constrained or marginalized may have expected from Gossip. Bursting out of the gate energetically with the unforgettable refrain of “Your back’s against the wall/There’s no one home to call/You’re forgetting who to call/You can’t stop crying” that boasts the core sentiment of denying the authorities’ will to make same sex marriage illegal, a process that feels alien today, which paves the way for Billie to hit her metronomic hi-hat snares and four-on-the-floor bass kicks with her ragged Punk-infused Drum parts, while guitarist Brace Paine contributes some vigorous bass lines and high-energy guitar riffs, that chug along to the distortion-drenched production of the thin and treble-enhanced range of melodies, to the equation. Ditto’s vocals earn a distinction among the wealth of other talents in the Garage-Rock revival business of the mid-00’s as they feel rather Bluesy, yet propulsive, with a smoky delivery on mid-chorus hooks like “You’ll live your life/Survive the only way that you know” and a commanding presence above the instrumentation that recalls the vintage Motown acts of the 70’s like Diana Ross and Ann Wilson in her wailing notes and her lengthily sustained filler phrases. The track also fits squarely into the DIY ethics of an underground Punk feminist movement of the 1990’s called the ‘Riot grrrl’ era in the way that Ditto’s band combine Punk music with Politics on this, probably, best-known single from them. ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’ feels like a natural blend between the two styles, and it creates a noticeable Disco edge too, as it feels impossible not to mindlessly nod your head along to the groove. It was unapologetically brash, and Ditto’s band were transformed from a clan of Dance-Punk disruptors to Pop phenomena in the process.

That brings me to the end of another nostalgic throwback post on One Track At A Time, and I hope that you have a pleasant day, and thank you for showing your support for the site today. I’ll be diverting your attention back to brand new music tomorrow, as we review the latest single by a Grime-meets-Punk duo based in East London who have toured with hardcore rapper Nascar Aloe, supported Gallows at their comeback gig at House Of Vans in 2019 and were featured in a guest appearance on a BBC Radio 1 session by Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes presented by Annie Mac.

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New Album Release Fridays: The Mysterines – ‘Dangerous’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke – and this is the time for us to pick up something for the weekend as we take an in-depth preview of one of the weekend’s most noticeably notable new album releases, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! There’s stiff competition from Dirty Projectors and Coco’s Maia Friedman, as well as rock band The Districts, this weekend – but The Mysterines have the vote of ‘Album Of The Week’ from One Track At A Time for this fine Friday of March 11th. A fair share of music publications frequently seem to assume the emerging Alternative Punk 4-piece of The Mysterines are from Liverpool, but they were actually originally formed in Merseyside. Led by vocalist/guitarist Lia Metcalfe, The Mysterines have been gaining fans all over the music and radio industry across the last couple of years and various tracks by them have each received daytime rotational airplay from BBC Radio 6 Music. They have performed at festivals as beloved as 2021’s Sound City Festival, and I’m sure there are some die-hard UK Hard Rock fans who have been desperately awaiting what’s in store for them as ‘Reeling’ – their first full-length album – finally lands on store shelves today. ‘Reeling’ was recorded in sessions that took place throughout 2021, where The Mysterines worked with Catherine Marks (Foals, The Killers, Eliza Shaddad) as their producer. The record will be supported by a string of tour dates in locations like Cambridge, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Leeds and more throughout the spring. Teasing the style and direction of ‘Reeling’ when it was initially announced, Metcalfe said, “It’s a pretty ambiguous title for most people, but for me, ‘Reeling’ sums up every emotion of the album in just one word”, in the band’s press statement. On that strong note, let’s check out the final pre-release single – ‘Dangerous’ – below.

The final advance single to drum up hype for the album, Lia Metcalfe also said in a seperate statement about the visceral Alt-Rock tune, “Dangerous is about those wild cycles that life sometimes traps you in, the ones that seem desirable at first but quickly become very dangerous”, as The Mysterines’ dynamic frontwoman explains, concluding, “Whether it be with people, places, relationships – the hardest part is always letting go”, in her thoughtful and provoking press notes. ‘Dangerous’ gets off to a heated start as a slightly Folk-led opening guitar riff slowly turns sour in tone and becomes more thunderous at a brisker pace, and Metcalfe soon croons refrains like “I was willing and able/But I was caught in your jaws” and you caught me standing on the table/I saw you watching me fall” that invite you into the Post-Punk style of the single with dramatic lyricism that touches on toxicity and cyclical break-up as key themes. For the chorus, the hooks become more melodic and infectiously catchy as the simple refrain of “It’s such a danger/It’s such a dangerous thing” is given an infuriated amount of emotional weight that grinds under the relentlessly electronic-enhanced electric guitar riffs. Metcalfe’s vocal delivery has a noticeably potent and, most crucially, masculine quality to it, with the rest of the band backing up her gently husky voice by driving the beats forwards with a more standard ‘Indie’ formula of punchy guitar riffs and compact drum riffs. It is probably not the heaviest track that The Mysterines will likely present on the new record, but they have a bunch of ears that show a great knack for catchy melodies that interplay between the Pop and Punk elements of the track. ‘Dangerous’ also feels more eclectic than you may assume, given the title of the track on paper, because there’s some Grunge influences that pull from the more bombastic flair of more modern rock bands too. They were clearly influenced by Nirvana and The Strokes, and there’s a nice mixture of slightly different Rock influences being pulled together pretty neatly in ‘Dangerous’. It, perhaps, does feel like a fairly obvious choice for a radio-friendly single to promote the album as I could definitely envision ‘Dangerous’ being played on a daytime BBC Radio 1 programme as equally as on the next FIFA video game soundtrack, and so they do adhere to a more conventional structure and sound on the track more so than other examples of their music, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as it ensures The Mysterines are keeping their ambitions broad and attaining more reach with their music to entice others to check out the full record, where the more experimental tracks can find a larger audience. There’s also a Brit-Pop styling, especially in the raw vocals and the lightly distorted guitar riffs, that can appeal to older listeners while balancing out their more off-beat tracks naturally too. Overall, The Mysterines seem primed for sturdy success on ‘Dangerous’, a solid single that feels as though it is fairly diversified while giving the more casual fans of their genre some crowd-pleasing riffs.

That leaves me with little else to say other than to thank you kindly for lending a moment of your day to find out what I had to say about The Mysterines today, and I hope that you are looking forwards to their new album as much as most of their devoted fans are. I’ll be back tomorrow on the eve of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ to shine a spotlight on one of the UK’s most lively Grime artists who has just released his new LP ‘Reason To Smile’ via the major label Island Records. He has collaborated with the likes of Mahalia and Swindle, and he has received three nominations at the MOBO Awards. His ’23Winters’ EP reached #3 on the UK Rap & Hip Hop Albums Chart in 2016.

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Today’s Track: Sinead O’Brien – ‘Holy Country’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for you to push your worries aside for a few minutes while we get invested in yet another daily track on the blog, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I am delighted to write about Sinead O’Brien once again today, who topped my list of ‘The Best EP’s Of 2020’ with her debut extended play ‘Drowning In Blessings’. An incredibly unique talent from Limerick who I describe as the “Post-Punk Poet”, I caught wind of O’Brien when ‘Taking On Time’ was offered for free on KEXP’s ‘Song Of The Day’ podcast in early 2020, a valuable resource when it comes to seeking out and sampling new music. Since then, her star power has risen. She has supported cult artists John Cooper Clarke and The Brian Jonestown Massacre on sold-out theatre shows across the UK and Ireland, she has performed at Eurosonic Festival and SXSW, and she has collaborated with Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey (Foals, Black Midi, Squid, Fontaines DC) on singles like ‘Girlkind’ and ‘Kid Stuff’ that she dropped throughout 2021. I’m excited to report that O’Brien has announced that her debut solo full-length album – ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’ – will release on June 10th via Chess Club Records. Once again co-produced by Carey, the LP’s release has been accompanied by a long string of tour dates across the UK and Ireland for September and October 2022. Irish fans can visit her in Cork, Dublin, Belfast and more – while UK natives can catch her playing at venues in Nottingham, Brighton, Glasgow, Ramsgate, Bristol and more. Once again produced by Carey, her highly-anticipated LP was recorded in South London, and she teases, “The story of the album is built up in layers: One song giving context to the next. I thought about becoming undressed: testing my ideas, my voice. Working myself out across themes of identity, curiosity, creative process. Experimenting with the form and shape of language, using tone and delivery to get to the immediate centre of what I am saying”, Sinead explains in a press release. Let’s give her latest promotional single – ‘Holy Country’ – a listen below.

“The album title ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’, from the song, ‘Multitudes’, came into my head and made its demands, an idea that pressed on me throughout the record”, Sinead continues to explain about her solo album, concluding, “The clock symbol is enlarged, it looms like a moon over my activity watching, counting me down to zero. Dripping with self-sabotage and the feeling of being chased: it pulls and pushes against the verses which talk of ‘Multitudes’; the things that faithfully come back – the images, the words, creativity. It is creativity itself”, in her expressive press notes. Opening with a sultry acoustic-driven guitar riff akin to the ‘Country’ genre in reference to the track’s title, ‘Holy Country’ finds O’Brien being the architect of vocabulary that makes her really stand out in terms of lyrics, with O’Brien giving us a clear insight into her thought process as sequences like “I stare at the walls when I feel hollow/I stare straight down the hall and I follow the thoughts” swell above a Post-Punk crescendo of sounds that crash, thump and stutter beneath the more abstract, lyrical surface. Her vocal presence is commanding and demanding, as she exclaims the likes of “Take me to the secrets of the Saints” and she points out “The giants of time turning tunes” as she continues to flip the switch, disregarding the warm and folk-ish opening guitar riff at the start in favour of warped synths and rapid percussion that creates a more glitched-out sound. It is very unique and unimitable music from O’Brien once again, although the way that the sharp guitar riffs merge with O’Brien’s more free-form lyricism where she points out mental processes as we traverse her mind isn’t far from the well of Dry Cleaning’s Spoken-sung waxings, but the tone is clearly more serious while retaining an abstract nature. In conclusion, ‘Holy Country’ is another vivid stand-out from Sinead, who continues to convince me that she is one of the most creative human beings on the UK’s live music circuit. A very articulate and talented individual, her album has me hyped to a high amount that is often quite unusual for somebody as obsessive as me who listens to almost anything anyways. It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster and a totally refreshing record.

As I have mentioned, Sinead O’Brien has been one of our ‘regulars’ on the blog since I began the project actively in the summer of 2019. If you enjoyed ‘Holy Country’, you can check out some more of her sounds below:

‘Taking On Time’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/20/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-taking-on-time/

‘Strangers In Danger’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/03/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-strangers-in-danger/

‘Kid Stuff’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/15/todays-track-sinead-obrien-kid-stuff/

That brings us to the end of another day of music coverage on One Track At A Time! Thank you for giving a few minutes of your day to me today, as your support is always highly appreciated, and I will be back tomorrow for another iteration of ‘New Album Release Fridays’. We’ll be previewing the third studio album from a West London-based indie rock singer-songwriter who recently stated “It’s a shame when you’re at a festival, and all you see is white guys” in a very candid interview for The Independent.

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Today’s Track: Obongjayar – ‘Message In A Hammer’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to hear a defiant word of resistance from today’s important new voice in music with yet another 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! Long-time readers may remember how Obongjayar reached the last spot of my ‘Top 5 Best EP’s Of 2020’ list with ‘Which Way Is Forward?’ eons ago, and that’s because this artist is doing a lot of very creative things within the Afrobeat genre by blending elements of Electronic, Spoken Word, Psych-Pop and Post-Rock music together to create frightening and visceral soundscapes that lyrically explore non religion-specific spiritual overtones about searching for your soul. Obongjayar is the release moniker of London-based Afrobeat artist Steven Umoh, who was born in Calabar, Nigeria and he moved over to the UK with his mother to escape their abusive relationship with his father. He is influenced by the US Hip-Hop artists of the 2000’s who he spent his childhood listening to including Eminem, Ciara, Usher, Nelly and Snoop Dogg. His work has gained praise from Pitchfork, The Guardian, New Wave Magazine and Deep Cuts – and he has recently collaborated with Pa Salieu and Little Simz. He also contributed to the ‘Everything Is Recorded’ project that was started by Richard Russell, who is the executive of XL Recordings. Umoh will be releasing his debut studio album – ‘Some Nights I Dream Of Doors’ – via September Recordings on May 13th. In an attached press release, Umoh says, “This album dives into the idea of opportunity and tries to explore what that means, what lies beyond those doors, and asks if we’re ready for it”. Check out his haunting single ‘Message In A Hammer’ below.

The new album features 12 tracks including the other pre-release single – ‘Try’ – and a new collaboration with the Mercury Prize-nominated Prog-Jazz musician Nubya Garcia. ‘Message In A Hammer’ is built on a pummeling beat that Umoh devised with co-producer Barney Lister, and Umoh makes his stern warning sound clear, saying, “Message In A Hammer is about fight, and fighting against the powers that take and steal and rob from us, and calling them by their name – thieves and murderers”, in a press release. The ‘hammer’ in the track’s title is not metaphorical in the video, and he matches this striking imagery with a piece of music that finds him chanting methodically with his vocals that sound very determined and brutal with honesty. Refusing to be placed into a box, he protests against colonialism and state corruption with unbridled lyrics like “Born in trouble water/Every stroke is war” and “They drowned the ones before us/But we’ll make it to shore” that hint towards the actions bought about by SARS, a Nigerian authority who has come under scrutiny for the violence that it has inflicted on young Nigerians with its special police force. Synths hover and waver in the backbeat, while the drums thump along at a relentless pace and sell the disdain that Umoh has instinctively felt about the history that he refuses not to get overburdened by, and he instead turns the tide – in both a literal and a lyrical sense – with the leading hook of “You can beat me, shoot me, kill me, throw me in jail/You can strip me, use me, abuse me” that makes his very commanding presence felt and leads his unsullied chorus. His tone is furious and hellbent, but his vocals come across as passionate instead of preachy, for the most part. I think what really works about Obongjayar’s music is how his voice stretches through a plethora of political and intimate themes, while set against a range of different influences and subsequent backdrops, without coming across as too self-righteous and it feels harsh, but well-balanced, instead. This is another solid example that he displays on ‘Message In A Hammer’, a message against the dispatch of systematic oppression that acknowledges the past while conveying a forward-thinking ethos and delivery. The naval percussion, the sinister Synths and the brisk pace tie a neat ribbon around it all.

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out some different music with me today, and thank you for lending a pair of eyes to my site for just a few minutes today. I’m visiting my sister in Kent tomorrow – so you can rest assured that I’ve gotten ahead of my game and written all about tomorrow’s pick for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ in advance. We’re discussing the ambitious double album project from a Chamber Pop duo from Baltimore, Maryland who have been nominated for a Swedish GAFFA award.

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New Album Release Fridays: Trentemøller – ‘All Too Soon’

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to get through the last few hours of your tiresome working week with the aid of yet another daily track of the blog of the ‘New Album Release Fridays’ variety, given how it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! One of today’s most eventful album releases comes from Trentemoller, a Danish film score creator, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Copenhagen, Denmark who has released lush compositions of a cinematic style for over 20 years now by drawing on elements such as Minimalism, Glitch, Dark Wave, Downtempo, Instrumental Hip-Hop, Synthwave, Post-Rock and more with productions that feel eerie and progressive for his grounded discography. Trentemoller started making music in the 90’s as a part of different Indie Rock projects and he has since founded his own label – In My Room Records. He also headlined the Orange Stage at Roskilde Festival in 2009 with a set designed by his close friend and touring drummer Henrik Vibskov, a night that saw him playing in front of 60,000 people with innovative visuals to captivate them. Today, he is releasing his sixth full-length studio album – ‘Memoria’ – via his own label. This is the follow-up LP to 2019’s ‘Obverse’, a record that was nominated for IMPALA’s European Independent Album Of The Year award of that same year and it also saw him collaborate with Warpaint’s Jenny Lee Linberg and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell. For one of his latest singles – ‘All Too Soon’ – he has reached out to his own girlfriend Lisbet Fritze for a glistening series of radiant backing vocals. Let’s give it a spin below.

Taking us through the narrative behind ‘All Too Soon’ on his own Bandcamp page, Trentemoller says, “All Too Soon examines ostensibly diametric relationships of light and dark, life and death, day and night, love and hate, while actually presenting them as dualistic, and symbiotic, influencing each other as they interrelate. What might appear to be a dispiriting take on our mortality could just as easily be interpreted as its acceptance being liberating”, in his own description. Beginning with a light acoustic guitar strum that becomes more intense and darkens the atmosphere before Fritze’s mysterious vocals kick in, who croons pained lyrics like “Have you ever fallen in/Into an inner void?” and “Do you feel like I do? Abandoned from it all” with an enigmatic presence, with a Trip Hop-influenced soundscape that morphs into a more glitched and distorted picture frame of a piece as the four minute duration of the track takes its time. Trentemoller complements the scattering Shoegaze opus of the chorus – with regretful lyrics like “We can’t live forever/If we could, we would” being sprawled all below percussive feedback stabs by Fritze – with sumptuous melodies of melancholic Drums and antagonized trails of reverb. Together, it makes up for an ethereal combination of psychedelic Dream Rock and textured Progressive Pop with a few vague lyrics like “Is a growing darkness/All you see?” creating a platform of intrigue. Through the means of collaborating with his girlfriend, Trentemoller toys with the idea of connections, with lyrics like “Is it day or night/Is it love or hate/Is it anything between?” that contrast each other and his instrumental work employs some warm percussion that counteracts the more cold, dry tones of the guitar and drums. Overall, ‘All Too Soon’ is a detailed and well-informed exploration of items that are bound together, yet they are opposite and he soundtracks these relations with his pivoting instrumentation and his emotive yet guarded lyricism that doesn’t reveal much in terms of laying out a direct meaning, with an underlayer of Pop that ensures that light is appropriately clashing with darkness throughout his soundscape.

That leaves me with nothing left to say other than to thank you for time and wish you well on your way to the weekend. ‘Scuzz Sundays’ will return in two days time for the usual throwback to the ‘trashy teen’ era of our lives, but I’ve also got some new music to share with you tomorrow that comes from an Indie Rock duo from the Isle Of Wight who have been all played over BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music since their debut single – ‘Chaise Lounge’ – went viral last year. They are shortlisted for BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2022’ poll and they began touring in the US in December as they keep finding success.

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