Jangle-Rock

Today’s Track: Jens Lekman – “The End Of The World Is Bigger Than Love”

December 22, 2020 — Leave a comment

Oh, You’re So Silent, Jens. Every Little Hair knows your name. It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Jens Lekman performing “A Postcard To Nina” live (in 2008) (Photo via Interface Sessions)

Good Morrow to you, I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get writing up about today’s track of the day on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day. Jens Lekman, by far, is one of my favourite Songwriters of all time – and that is because the Swedish songcrafter is also one of the best pure storytellers. Bittersweet, witty and anecdotal – Lekman knows how to tug on your heartstrings with a simple strum of his Acoustic guitar, as much as he knows how to make you smile to a witty rhyme or a quirky bit of sample work. By now, Jens has truly cemented his place as one of the true “Jacob Classics” in my life, and he’s 9-times-out-of-10 the artist who I come running back to whenever I’m going through a difficult time. To be honest with you, I was desperate to see my sister and her fiance this year for Christmas, and given the news in the UK over the weekend that Covid has scrapped the country’s plans for this festive season, I was very cross with the government and I was very disappointed by the events. However – “The End Of The World Is Bigger Than Love” came to mind. I’m feeling a lot better now, by the way, and I felt this song was a particularly relevant one for the moment, because it’s a track that’s really about putting things into proportion, as you’ll soon see. “The End Of The World Is Bigger Than Love” was a single released from Jens’ second album, “I Know What Love Isn’t”, which came out to decent critical acclaim in 2012 – through the Secretly Canadian record label. Time for you to check it out below.

“I Know What Love Isn’t” was released five years after his debut LP record, “Night Falls Over Kortdela”, and to give a little bit of background explanation to the development of the follow-up, Lekman posted on his blog: “I believe in Love”, before adding, “I just get so wrapped up in it sometimes that I need to put it into proportion, it’s something that you have to do a lot, when you’re Jens Lekman”, to his description of this track. Yes, Jens is singing about a failed relationship here, but the focus isn’t about how everything ends, it’s on how, as Jens put it in another track from the record – “The World Moves On” – the world just shrugs it’s shoulders and keeps on going. Opening with a sombre Piano line and a swirling electronic sample beat – he settles into a folk-led bass guitar melody and a gradually evolving, sampled Horn melody. In the chorus, Jens croons: “A broken heart, is not the end of the world/’Cause the end of the world/Is bigger than love” over the top of a fluttering rhythm of softly sweeping String melodies and a jovial, upbeat acoustic guitar beat, with some pleasant vocal harmonies being thrown in for some emotive effect. The bridge is a highlight, where Jens lists how much bigger that life is than a relationship with trivialities such as: “And it’s bigger than the Stock market/and the loose change in your pocket” and “And it’s bigger than the Spider floating in your Cider” just to add a little more context to the message behind the vocals of the track, and detail how the latest heartbreak is quite meaningless compared to a literal collapse of the world. The songwriting feels quite emotionally rich and thematically mature, and it’s great to see how Jens has been able to see life past a broken love, and evolved as a person in the mechanics of the wider world. Although there’s nothing about this track that would strike you as particularly experimental, or culturally groundbreaking – It was, and still is, a very worthy addition to Jekman’s canon of weary-eyed and anecdotally driven musings of life and mindset, with melodies that are simply sumptuous and the lyrics are just flat-out nice. I think anybody can benefit from hearing a little bit more of Jens in their life.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “I Know What Love Isn’t” (Released on Sept. 4th, 2012) (via Secretly Canadian)

We previously looked at ““Kanske är Jag kär I Dig” from “Night Falls Over Kortedala”, right at the beginning of the time where I started out by writing this daily blog online. For more of Jens, you can still check it out here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/09/03/todays-track-jens-lekman-kanske-ar-jag-kar-i-dig/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Night Falls Over Kortedala” (Released on Sept 5th, 2007) (via Secretly Canadian)

Thank you for checking out my new blog post! I’ve got more Christmas-themed music to show you tomorrow. This will be a track that’s brand new out for this year, and it’s all about spending Christmas in the hard time of the Covid-19 pandemic. It comes from an Indie Rock duo who once wrote a song about the Darts player Richie Burnett. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Panic! At The Disco – “But It’s Better If You Do…”

December 21, 2020 — Leave a comment

A Panic! At The Disco would be better than 5 Seconds Of Summer. It’s Scuzz Sunday…

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” (Released on Sept 27, 2005) (via Fueled By Ramen)

It’s finally back to business, as usual, on the last day of the week! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and this is the post of the week that we like to call “Scuzz Sundays” – the weekly feature where we revisit an ancient gemstone buried in the mine (or rubbish skip…) of the Emo-Rock and the Pop-Punk genre movements from between the late-1990’s, up to until the mid-2000’s. Of course, named in tribute to the defunct “Scuzz” TV music video channel. We previously took a look at the cult classic era of “Pretty Odd”, a time of the US Emo-Punk group Panic! At The Disco’s career that was wildly fascinating, and has sadly been rejected by the band now. Today, we’re going to dive even earlier than that, with one of the singles from their debut album, “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out”, which was released in 2005, and it remains to be the first full-length album that I can remember buying for myself. “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies” was the obvious hit single from the record, but I always preferred “But It’s Better If You Do…”, a lesser-known single that reached the #23 position on the UK Singles Chart in 2006. It was recorded in a stylistic two halves, with the first part of the album exploring some catchy Pop-Punk and New-Wave sounds, while the second half of the album – divided by a Piano interlude – was a much darker play-out of Moulin Rouge, with traditional instrumentation that explored a Baroque sound. This track is an exhibition of these themes – with this single almost playing out like a short-form story or narrative, as a naive teenager sneaks into an adult Strip Club – and becomes horrified by the results of his curiosity. Let’s revisit the Shane Drake-directed music video for the track below.

“A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” received mixed reviews from critics at the time – and yet it struck a chord with audiences. In fact, Panic! are easily more famous and mainstream-friendly now than they’ve ever been before as Brendan Urie essentially carries on with the project as a solo act – sadly to my dismay, and I sadly wouldn’t consider myself to be a fan anymore. The title of “But It’s Better If You Do..” was spoken by Natalie Portman in Closer, a film released in 2004, with “Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off…” completing the first half of the quote, which is coincidentally the title of the preceding track on the album, and it results in a seamless experience of the two tracks, followed by “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” on the album, as the beat slowly changes throughout the endings of each of the three tracks on the recording. As I mentioned, “But It’s Better If You Do…” sees an underage teenager enter a masquerade-style strip club, and not enjoying it. Urie speedily establishes the scene with: “Now, I’m of consenting age, to be forgetting you in a cabaret/Somewhere downtown, where a Burlesque queen, may even ask my name” above the quickly paced, jangling Organ chords. Urie manages to sell the (Pun-Intended) Panic of the character in the scene, crooning refrains like: “As she sheds her skin on age/I’m seated and sweating to a dance song on the club’s P.A.”, and “I may have faked it/And I wouldn’t be caught dead in this place”, adding a few harmonies to that last lyric. The tone is grim and ill-fated, and the story of the teenage boy trying to impress a girl through jealousy, aided by a scene at the Strip Club, unfolds when Urie sings: “I’m exactly where you’d like me, you know” and “Praying for love in a lap dance, and paying in naivety” in the chorus, which has a retro 80’s electro-pop twang to it. Urie’s vocals are obviously pretty bratty and unseasoned, but I think the band managed to do a great job with the variety of instrumentation on show. There’s some interesting moods of Dark Cabaret and Classical music here, which isn’t grossly auto-tuned and relies on a theatrical narrative instead. Overall, it feels cinematic and vivid – and I love how Panic! were so keen to experiment with bold ideas at this very early stage of their career. The style manages to stand out for them, although, come to think of it – I probably shouldn’t have been buying this at 7/8 years old. That feeling of daring to be different is a major part of the appeal, however. For my money, it remains to be one of Panic’s most underrated cuts, and it represents an era of Pop-Punk and Panic themselves which, whether they worked or failed, tried different ideas. Sadly, it’s a step above the commercial dross that we’re exposed to nowadays – where Urie is recording brutally irritating Frozen covers, of all items, so my unpopular opinion on them remains. Yeah, it’s really not the same band.

  • Pictured: Brendan Urie (Lead Vocals/Writer/Multi-Instrumentalist), Ryan Ross (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Jon Walker (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Spencer Smith (Drums) (in 2008) (Photo via PR)

As aforementioned, I also took an in-depth look at the “Pretty Odd” era that followed for the band – a wholly inventive, highly divisive and truly fascinating one. I would suggest that you check out my review for “That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)” here to find out more: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/31/scuzz-sundays-panic-at-the-disco-that-green-gentleman-things-have-changed/

  • Pictured: Vinyl of Pretty Odd” (2008) (via Fueled By Ramen) (Photo by The Underworld Mansfield)

Thank you for checking out my new blog post – I hope that you had a happy New Year’s period! I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at a track which was originally released back in 2018 – and it comes from one of the most powerful new voices in Blues and Desert Rock – a Canadian recording artist who was previously a member of the Electronica group – Stop Die Resusicate. That hits a blank with me as well, but you should come and join me anyways – it’s rather good! 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: Shonen Knife – “Space Christmas”

December 17, 2020 — Leave a comment

Peace on Earth, but Joy to the cosmic galaxy. It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “A Shonen Knife Christmas Record For You” (Single/EP) (1991) (via Rockville)

Great tidings we bring – I am Jacob Braybrooke and I’m here to fulfill my daily duties to type up about today’s track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! One again, I’m using my smartphone to write today’s post, so I offer my apologies if the format isn’t as neat as I usually like to make it, but I quite enjoyed using this device yesterday actually. Shonen Knife’s “Space Christmas” is the subject of your latest Festive track on the blog this year. Shonen Knife are a Garage-Punk trio from Osaka, Japan who, although changing their line-up’s through the years frequently, have been going for almost the past 40 years now. Heavily influenced by their love of The Ramones (They once performed as a tribute band to them, named The Osaka Ramones), the Japanese Alternative Rock trio are a fresh Avant-Rock take on the 60’s Bubblegum girl bands of old, rooted firmly in DIY Punk aesthetics and quirky, if simple, songwriting tactics. “Space Christmas” was originally released in 1992 as the lead single from the “A Shonen Knife Christmas For You” four-track EP, which was released via Rockville, but it has since been re-issued a bunch of times, most notably on “The Birds & The B-Sides”, a compilation of B-sides, cover versions, live releases, reworked tracks and just other rare material, released via Virgin Records in 1996. Let’s blast off with them to “Space Christmas” down below.

The trio have been credited a lot for opening up the international Post-Punk scene to a lot of more diverse, Asian rock groups to find critical and commercial success in the music industry, hence adding some much-needed international spice to the blossoming genre at the time. “Space Christmas” was released in their prime, and it’s not hard to tell, with the gleeful enthusiasm of their personalities merging with the unrepelled guitar work as Yamano chants: “Merry, Merry Christmas” over the top of the frantic guitar strumming. The vocals have an innocent sound, as she happily sings: “I’m waiting for Santa Claus/He’s riding on a bison sleigh/I’m waiting for Christmas gifts/I want a space ship” above the cheerful sleigh bell melodies and the jovial Pop-Punk instrumentation. It has playfully bad English in it’s lyricism and an unbridled drumming signature within its arsenal, as an undeniably “Bubblegum” Pop sound beams through the amusing vocals to a Punk-in-it’s-prime guitar edge. Lines like “I want to go to Pluto/I want to go with you/I bring Space food/They are Marshmellow, and Ice Cream” really emphasize this sound, although I hate to use the term “Bubblegum” for this because it implies cheap and disposable. It’s going to put a smile on your face though and the intentionally unpolished production will definitely contribute to your enjoyment. It moves beyond ancient Indie Pop, while also providing a good alternative to the same old tracks from Wham, Mariah Carey and Chris Rea that you may be sick of hearing already this year. Sweet, melodic fun.

  • Pictured: Naoko Yamano (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar), Ritsuko Taneda (Bass Guitar/Rhythm Guitar) and Emi Morimoto (Drums/Vocals) at the Shonen Knife 30th Anniversary show (2011) (via Wikipedia.com)

Thank you for reading my new blog post! As per usual, I’ll be back at it again tomorrow, but to save me from bombarding you with Christmas music all of the time, we’re going to listen to an older track from earlier in the year together. This next one comes from an American Hip-Hop duo based in Seattle who received over ten million views on YouTube for their viral single, “Come Correct”. 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: Ray Stevens – “Santa Claus Is Watching You”

December 12, 2020 — Leave a comment

He knows when you’re sleeping and he knows when you’re awake. It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Christmas Through A Different Window” (Released: 1997) (via MCA Nashville)

Festive tidings to you – I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s now time for me to get typing up all about today’s track on the daily music blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! “Santa Claus Is Watching You” is a quirky little Christmas track, which I found out all about when I was researching some alternative or obscure Christmas tracks to spotlight on the blog this year over the world wide web. Sadly, the name of Ray Stevens did not initially ring any Jingle Bells with me (See what I did there?), but it turns out that he’s really a very prolific Country and R&B singer-songwriter originally from the state of Georgia, over in the states. He’s also worked as a television presenter, music arranger and music producer too, and Stevens has also been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame, the Christian Music Hall Of Fame and he’s even received Gold certification sales for some of his albums, so he may be just a little bit before my time, is all. After all, what do I know, eh? “Santa Claus Is Watching You” was a track which he originally wrote and performed as a one-off single released back in 1962, before he later re-released the track as a part of his “Christmas Through A Different Window” seasonal LP collection in 1977. You can still buy the record, but the single in it’s original form is a rarity now, and it’s worth a decent amount of money. I do not have that kind of money. Anyways, let’s laugh along to the music video below.

Ray Stevens has also been inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum, which happened just last year in 2019, and so he is still trucking along with his work. The track, specifically, has actually been doing the rounds for a long time now, and you can also get hold of it from his “The Best Of Ray Stevens” compilation album which he put out in 1967, where the track was even re-recorded, electronically, to simulate stereo. As a result of this, I sadly have no real idea of when the official music video, that you just saw above, was released. However, it’s still quite charming and memorable despite it’s dated production. The track, however, peaked at the #45 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. I think that it’s still quite funny, too. The start plays out with a showering of Sleigh Bell melodies, as Stevens calls out: “Now baby-doll, sweetie-pie, sugar-plum, honey-bunch, angel-face” above a stop-and-start combination of Piano and Guitar work, before delivering the killer hook of “Be careful what you say and do/’Cause Santa Claus is watching you” on top of the jovial, care-free rhythms. It gets more romantic and unveiling later on, as Stevens attributes “You’d better kiss and hold me tight/And give me a good lovin’ night” and “When Christmas comes, you’ll be crying too” to the repeated vocal hook. A quirky bridge of doo-wop filler lines and a list of reindeer’s names who are not a part of Santa’s elite group of Sleigh pullers follow up on the verses, to add a quirky sense of fun to the lyricism. He later claims that Santa Claus is the head of the CIA, and the track ends with some form of Spoken Word freestyle about his paranoia of being watched by the White-bearded international celebrity. It makes for a fun and entertaining listen, although the cohesion and flow of the track gets a little uneven at times, as Stevens keeps dashing through different modes of his wordplay vocal delivery and his instrumental breaks during the track. I’m not sure how appealing this track would be to children either, but I think that’s a good thing, in this case, because it makes it feel different to your bog-standard festive Pop track primarily aimed at Children that Pop singers like Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber are known to have performed in recent years. Stevens also manages to deliver some good comedy throughout the single too, even if the flow loses it’s way a little bit during the middle. The Rockwell of yuletide tracks – which came an odd 20 years before, perhaps. Overall, it’s still pretty hilarious.

  • Pictured: Vinyl Copy of “Santa Claus Is Watching You” (1962) (Photo via Discogs.com/Mercury Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post! Tomorrow marks a short-lived, but celebratory, new era for our weekly Scuzz Sundays series, because we’re going to be looking at some festive-themed emo-rock and pop-punk gems taken from the late-1990’s, up until the mid-2000’s, from tomorrow onwards. Tomorrow’s Emo throwback comes from a classic American Heavy Metal band who are often regarded as “Glam-Rock” for their prominent use of makeup and female costumes. 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: Candace – “Still Phase”

October 12, 2020 — Leave a comment

A “Witchgaze” trio from Portland who you’ll never see Coven. It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Ideal Corners” (Released on May 29th, 2020) (via Self-Released/Bandcamp)

Good Morning! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, as per usual, it’s time for me to type up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! With their self-described “Witchgaze” sound, Candace are a Shoegaze and Dream-Folk band from Portland, Oregon. The line-up is made up of Mara Appel Des Lauriers, Sarah Nienebar and Sarah Rose, who share the vocals and guitar roles on their tracks, with Des Lauriers supplying the Drum parts too. They first met in Minneapolis, where the three ladies bonded over their love for guitars in their parents houses, before forming their band (Which was then-known as Is/Is) in 2009. They currently self-produce all of their music, and they self-release it all on their Bandcamp page. They seem to have quite the prolific discography if you take a moment to look at all of the music releases on their Bandcamp page, and “Ideal Corners” is the latest full-length album release, which they uploaded onto the page on May 19th, 2020. The release saw them collaborate on production with Larry Crane, and it was recorded at the Jackpot! Recording Studio almost a whole year ago. It also finds them experimenting with electronic Synth hardware, namely drum machines, to add an “otherworldy” feel to their guitar-led Shoegaze sound. “Still Phase” is the lead single from their recent album, and the trio commented, in a press release, that it “is about coming to terms with the senslesness of inaction, about learning over and over again that there is ‘no right time’, nothing is ever definite”. Let’s relax and take a listen to “Still Phase” below.

Their recent album explores “themes of nostalgia and hope, the unease of modern band life, expectations and inertia – all encapsulated into tightly written psychedelic dream pop songs” according to their partner label Little Cloud Records. It’s certainly noticeable that “Still Phase” has a significantly light and gentle sound, and there is really not much in the way of explosive variations in sound or memorable lyrical hooks here, necessarily. However, it’s melodic enough. The vocals are fairly easy to decipher, which is quite an unusual trait for a Shoegaze release, as Ninebar chimes: “Forget my name, go on, let this soar, we’re flying/Keep on trying” and “Now, I know you then” at a soft ease, over the top of an increasingly layered series of psych-laden textures, with fluffy and laborious guitar work easily blending with a set of gently melancholic backgrounds, and soft-centred drum beats which slowly build up to a distorted layer of heavy bass as we near the track’s conclusion. There is also a sense of strength that develops between these minor changes of tempo as well, and the thorough line is a droning, but calming, lead vocal that has a proverbial effect of just massaging your ears. Overall, it presents a textural backdrop of a gorgeous pool of soft psychedelic sounds for you to submerge yourself in, even if this pool could be a little deeper with further experimentation of a slightly more varied set of sounds. It’s still a beautiful and lovely sound though, and the DIY feel, that reminds me of Beach House and Mazzy Star, weirdly adds a little more engagement to it, with it’s simplicity.

  • Pictured: Mara Appel Des Lauriers (Drums/Producer), Sarah Nienabar (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar) and Sarah Rose (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals) (2016) (Photo by Jeni Wren Stotrup/The Portland Mercury)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! Make sure to check out the blog tomorrow, where we’ll be heading across to the Merge Records label to take an in-depth look at one of their latest releases. The single comes from an electronic Post-Punk producer from Washington, DC who has previously released her material on Danger Records, and “she favours smart, sharp, effortlessly cool compositions that worm their way into your conciousness without breaking a sweat”, according to NME’s Jordan Bassett. If you really 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: Nick Mulvey – “Begin Again”

September 30, 2020 — Leave a comment

With study in Ethnomusicology, you’d expect him to know all his stuff. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Begin Again” (EP) (Released on July 10th, 2020) (via Fiction Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, like typically, I’m writing up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to get typing up about a different piece of music every day! I’ve always seen Nick Mulvey, an indie folk singer-songwriter and producer born in Cambridge, as somewhat of a little anomaly for Britain’s alternative music scene. After re-locating to Havana in Cuba to study music and art, he first made his mark upon his return to England as a founding member of a London-based Instrumental Percussion band, Portico Quartet, of which he used to play the Hang, which for those who don’t know, is a Pendulum-like Metal Plate instrument which is often considered to be a Steel-Pan ‘Drum’ part. His debut studio album, “First Mind”, which was released in 2014, received a nomination for the Mecury Prize award of that same year. Mulvey also studied Ethnomusicology at the University Of London’s School Of Oriental and African Studies, and so it becomes very clear that he has a fascination with the psychological and philosophical effects of World-based music, which is a rare occasion for an artist of a British, Northern Soul-driven background. The “Begin Again” EP is his latest music release, and this new 4-track project was released on July 10th via Fiction Records. Although his solo output has taken him in more of a Folk-led direction, he’s stated: “I’m always drawn to the same principles in music. Beneath each genre, at a certain level, they hold the same principles”. Let’s have a listen to the titular single of the new EP, “Begin Again”, below.

“Begin Again” is his first new release since 2019’s “In The Anthropocene”, a record that made history as the first track to be pressed on vinyl made from entirely recycled Plastic materials that were washed up on the UK’s shores. Mulvey says of the tracks, via a press release, “I see chaos, but I also see the opportunity for a new world, and a more beautiful one. We are living through an incredible shift. The old ways are dying, right before our very eyes. In a way, my songs are songs of the new ways coming through”, and a theme of nature and Earth is rather evident on the simplicity of the acoustic instrumentation and the emphasis on vocals which he portrays in the title track of his new EP, “Begin Again”. In the world we’re living in, where such a large amount of the music that we access is produced electronically, it can make for an engaging deviation from the tried-and-true formula of the now. Mulvey starts off: “Mary was my mother’s mother and my sister too/There’s a rain in the river, there’s a river running through” as he begins the story of Mulvey wanting to learn about his grandmother, who sadly died before he was born. The instrumentation here has a light groove, with shaking guitar strums and simmering percussion beats, with a gentle Hang melody thrown in for good measure, and to call back to his past. The lyrics also play on the topics of acceptance: “Can we begin again? It’s me again, I know you are so different to me/But, I love you, just the same” over the top of a plucky guitar melody that feels upbeat and easy on the ear. The rest of the vocals play on the Coastal and Nature themes of Mulvey’s previous releases, as he recites: “Sister by the side of the sea/Take the War out of me”, with a poetic twang to it. The vocals skew towards a bit of a Spoken Word delivery at points, with a quality that sounds emotive and well-educated at certain points. This makes the track feel rather sweet and down-to-earth. It reminds me of Ed Sheeran, but without most of the over-commercialism that has really downplayed his newer releases. Personally, I can’t really hear the World elements of his past work too clearly, but there are some blueprints of that education here, with the rhythmic guitar patterns and the lyrical devices that play on nature and environment feeling subtle, but well-paced. I would quite like to hear Mulvey get that big ol’ Hang instrument for a few more experimental tinkerings in the future, but there’s strength in the acoustic instrumentation and the emotive, confident lyrics in the track. This is a good way to bring the month to a close.

  • Pictured: Nick Mulvey performing at The Shepherd’s Bush Empire (2017) (Photo Credit: George Brown)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! Duty shall call for me again tomorrow, and we’re going to hit our stride in the new month by kicking off with the excellent new single from a much more established act, who create a wide variety of Electronic Dance and Ambient Chill-Out music, producing “At The River” which appears on vol. 1 of The Classic Chillout Album series. The group have released eight full-length studio albums, four of which have charted within the Top 50 of the UK Albums Chart. The duo achieved chart success, mostly in the 90’s, for the tracks “I See You Baby” and “Superstylin”, which still receive a decent level of radio airplay today! 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/

Mercury Prize 2020 Special: Michael Kiwanuka -“Hero”

September 26, 2020 — Leave a comment

Winner, Winner – Michael needs to eat his chicken dinner! It’s time for a special post…

  • Pictured: Michael Kiwanuka live in session for Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 (2020) (Photo via BBC Sounds)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m writing up about your daily track on the blog because, as per usual, it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Another year has quickly rolled by ever since North London MC Dave won last year’s Mercury Prize with his controversial album “Psychodrama”, and that means it’s time for the judging panel (which actually includes one of my heroes, Supergrass member, Gaz Coombes) to crown a new winner for this year’s edition of the prestigious award, of which includes previous winners such as PJ Harvey (the only two-time winner ever to date), Skepta, Pulp, Elbow, Arctic Monkeys, and rather more forgettably, Klaxons. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I found out that the results had been announced, to find out that my predicted pick of Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” had not won. (I thought it would, since I guessed the media would want to ram her down our throats just that little bit more). It was actually Michael Kiwanuka who walked away with the award, for his third full-length LP effort “Kiwanuka”, which was released in November 2019, which is still within the annual eligibility period. To earn the award, Kiwanuka beat out the likes of Kano, Moses Boyd, Porridge Radio, Sports Team, Lanterns On The Lake, and Stormzy. I’m not very familiar with Kiwanuka’s work if I’m being truly transparent with you, but I know that he is very critically-acclaimed and he is very popular in the US, and I know this thanks to one certain presenter on KEXP who had played him three times in a row as a competition when I was listening into their show one afternoon. Kiwanuka won BBC’s Sound Of 2012 poll, along with receiving nominations for BRIT Awards, MTV Europe Awards and BBC Music Awards, and so I have definitely heard his name quite a lot! Anyhow, let’s hear what the fuss is about with the album’s single, “Hero”, below.

Jimi Hendrix would be the obvious comparison to make here. That’s a good thing, and I feel that “Hero” is also drenched in a post-60’s psychedelia that feels layered and embedded textually within the decadent guitar riffs. He is clearly taking a lot of influence from 70’s Soul for the track as well, and this adds more sumptuous detail to complement his defiant vocals, which have a contemporary, hard-hitting impact as he compares the murder of 1960’s activist Fred Hampton with the newsworthy shootings going on in the US as he sings: “It’s on the news again, I guess they killed another” in the opening verse. The first half of the track consists of simplistic, gentle acoustic guitar strums as he discusses racial issues across the pond. The instrumentation is diversified for the second verse, which marks a dramatic key change for the track, as Kiwanuka begins to hit his stride into a 70’s Psych-Rock groove, as he repeats: “Am I a hero now? To die a hero, is all that we know now” above a scratched vocal effect and also a reasonably distorted synth line that lingers in the background. The vocals never really develop into a further rhythm that takes the lyrical context beyond it’s initial meaning, but the progression of the chords and his expression of dissent add different moods and textures that flicker between guitar-driven pacing and more neo-psychedelic sounds at a swift fluidity. For me, this keeps the rather repetitive hook from getting too stale, with rousing guitar melodies that change between a 60’s Blues feel and a soulful 70’s aesthetic with a moment’s notice. Overall, I like it. For me, I probably wouldn’t rush out to the Piccadilly Records and just buy it, but I’m still looking forward to hearing more of it through streaming the record online. Personally, I feel as though more thematic progression of the lyrics may have kicked it up to another level, but it still feels intriguing and cool. I do think he is a decent pick to win the Mercury Prize though because it feels very expressive and nicely culturally diverse, while not seeming overly P.C. in the sense of it feeling “forced” or “preachy”, and the news-related lyricism mostly make it sound as though these themes are a natural part of this music. He receives a seal of approval from me.

  • Pictured: Michael Kiwanuka in a promotional photoshoot (in 2020) (Photo via Olivia Rose/BBC Music)

You can also still read my breakdown of last year’s Mercury Prize winner, Dave, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/09/21/mercury-prize-2019-special-edition-dave-streatham/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Kiwanuka” (Released on November 1st, 2019) (via Interscope Records)

Thank you very much for reading my Mercury Prize Special Edition post! It was a good one, right? Do not forget that I’ll be back for another special blog post tomorrow with a new weekly installment in our Scuzz Sundays series, where we have an in-depth listen back to an ancient relic of the Emo-Rock and the Pop-Punk genres, released between the late-1990’s and the mid-00’s, to see if it holds up in the present times! 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: Yukon Blonde – “You Were Mine”

September 17, 2020 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Jeff Innes (Lead Vocals/Writer), Brandon Scott (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), James Younger (Bass Guitar), Rebecca Gray (Keyboard/Synths) & Graham Jones (Drums) (2020) (Photo via Dine Alone)

Good Morning! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, just like always, I’m writing about your 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! A Canadian 5-piece Indie Rock group from Kelowna, British Columbia who are now based in Vancouver, Yukon Blonde have been touring the globe for almost 15 years, and have played numerous live sets at highly established music festivals such as South by Southwest, along with breaking out from winning the Juno Award for Breakthrough Group Of The Year in 2013. “You Were Mine” is the latest single taken off their upcoming fifth studio album, “Vindicator”. which is the first album to be written, produced and recorded entirely by the band in their own studio. You can buy their new album from 13th November, via Dine Alone Records. It comes highly anticipated, and it’s title is a nod to how the band felt upon it’s post-production completion. On “You Were Mine”, the group’s front-man, Jeff Innes, told Kill Beat Music in a press statement: “James brought the initial idea to the table, and after several hours of jamming, eating Scooby-snacks and drinking Churchill martinis, it started to fall apart in the most perfect way imaginable,” he stated. “I feel like this song somehow epitomizes the spirit of a successful collaboration in our band. Words like ‘compromise’ had no place in that session; everyone sings leads at some point, everyone plays everything. It’s certainly among our favourites from the record.” Let’s see how it all came together on the single below.

A Synth-Punk band known for previously embracing more minimalist and keyboard-oriented rock groove music, “You Were Mine” also marks a stark departure in sound to the NYC-Punk sound of their previous album and that comes along with their new single also being the first entirely self-produced single to come from the Innes’ home studio… and kitchen. “You Were Mine” has a fairly minimalist opening, as Innes contemplates: “I keep pretending that you were mine, When I’m all alone” over the top of a moderate piano riff and a light, Synth-driven R&B hook. The second verse’s repeat of “I keep pretending that…” causes the danceable elements to shift dramatically to a more neo-psychedelic, Acid-Pop altered state. Innes’ spins a mellow Spoken Word rap, reciting: “Summer came in the blink of an eye/Nothing remains, but the sheltering sky/Cast under cancer” over a slowed, more Dream-Pop geared soundscape that keeps the R&B-inflictions audible, but the stuttering Drums provide more of a morphing ambience than before. A calm interlude persists at a breezy, if jaunty, fashion. Shortly after this, Innes’ drowns his vocals in a heavy Auto-Tune effect to halve the tempo, and bring the sense of wonky production to the forefront a little more aggressively than before, with a quickly revolving Piano section and a tonally fluctuating Groove line bring the track to a danceable and hopeful, although not necessarily fast-paced, close. It’s quite hard for me to figure out if I really like the new track or not, and that’s just because it feels very different to the style of output that Yukon Blonde have delivered in the past. That’s a very good thing, as it means we’re not getting a retread of what’s come before again. However, on the negative end, I’m not sure if it really does enough to stand out from the likes of (You saw it coming…) Tame Impala and MGMT. The atmosphere is very reminiscent of Tame Impala’s “Let It Happen”, and the pop-friendly hooks also highly remind me of Foster The People, a band who I often find to be overlooked. The concern is that, here at least, it feels a little bit un-even and it doesn’t quite mish-mash R&B and more LCD Soundsystem-influenced NYC-Punk fully cohesively, with a middle section that drags a little and the self-reflective lyricism not quite managing to touch me where it hurts. On the other hand, I am looking forward to seeing what the band do with their new direction and the creative freedom of the individual production methods. I have a feeling this track will probably grow on me over time. But, as for now, I’m sadly left a bit apprehensive.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Vindicator” (Available from November 13th, 2020) (via Dine Alone Records)

Thank you for reading this post! Tomorrow, I’m making the long travel back to my university in Staffordshire to restart actually having a life again, so the daily post will have to be pre-written in advance! We’re going to take an in-depth look at an easy classic from 1998 with a band name that reflects the opposite of what the quality of their music has proven to live up to be! The band formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1993 and – unusually – they have managed to keep their original band line-up intact over the decades since. 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: Yard Act – “Fixer Upper”

September 15, 2020 — Leave a comment

A new Yard Act with seemingly no need for any renovation. It’s time for your new post!

  • Pictured: James Smith (Lead Vocals), Ryan Needham (Bass Guitar), Sammy Robinson (Rhythm Guitar) and George Townend (Drums/Percussion) in a recent press image (2020) (Photo via James Brown)

Good Morning! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, as per usual, I’m typing about your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Yard Act are very much… well… an emerging act, ironically enough. According to my online research, the 4-piece group have only managed to play at three live gigs together, due to the restrictions that were set forth by that pesky virus. The band still deserve some good attention and a little more exposure, however, and “Fixer Upper” is a testament of this. Not much else is known about them, and their Spotify bio simply reads as “Minimalist Rock from Leeds”. It is known, however, that Yard Act is a four-piece from Leeds made up of James Smith (Vocals), Ryan Needham (Bass), Sammy Robinson (Percussion) and George Townend (Drums). So far, they have only released two singles, “The Trapper’s Pelts” and “Fixer Upper”, which I’d highly recommend. Let’s have a listen to the latter new single below.

Yard Act’s vocalist James Smith explained to Clash Magazine: “Graeme was inspired by an amalgamation of people who lived on my street growing up. I think everyone knows a Graeme, maybe a neighbour or an uncle… sorry if he’s your dad. Not a bad man at heart, he just sincerely believes he’s from a country and generation that achieved the apex of everything so therefore can’t ever be wrong about anything.”, and I’ve got to be honest, when I first heard the track in the daytime on BBC Radio 6Music, I thought it was an old cult classic track from the late 70’s that I’d somehow never heard before. It’s got a very vintage, old-fashioned British hip-hop sound, with acerbic guitar hooks that evoke the “Bummed” era of Happy Mondays, and the razor-sharp lyricism makes me think of the silly little raps of which the Plunderbird boys used to do on Robot Wars back in the childhood days. The guitar riffs feel very angular, as Smith embodies the Graeme character in all of his glory to the sound of a killer No Wave backing track which evokes the likes of ESG and Liquid Liquid. There are quirky one-liners and tongue-in-cheek mocking of the upper-conservative class at each turn, with “I can’t believe I’m a two home-owner, finally…” and “We’re gonna put pound-shop terracotta’s everywhere” adding a very comedic undertone to the rambling, socially mobile aspirations of the Graeme character. “It’s a Fixer Upper” is an energetic hook that accompanies the crowded backing vocals very nicely and refrains like “And he had a PHD, did he? What in? Probably one of those pointless media degrees, not for me” add a rhythmic quirk to the wiry bass guitar riffs and the rickety, clattering drum patterns that roll along. It’s quite melodic, with a catchy lead guitar hook that tends to add context and tone to the narrative, rather than a particular beat to drive the rap forward. As Smith’s vocal boasts get more and more rapid, the arrangement begins to form a Post-Punk backing over time, while the narrative gets finished off with “I’m not from around here, but I am” to close the track on the note that Graeme has embraced a new cultural identity, in a very British sense. Overall, I think it’s as gold as Graeme’s rover – not like that big old thing over the road.

  • Pictured: Yard Act in a recent press image to promote “Fixer Upper” (2020) (Photo via James Brown)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! As per usual, I’ll be back for an in-depth look, tomorrow, at the new track from an old favourite of mine that I haven’t heard anything much from for quite a long while. This is an alternative rock musician from Halifax, Nova Scotia who released a rather Avalanches-esque album in 2012. He is, perhaps, best known for producing and writing as both a solo artist, and a frequent collaborator for Hylozoists, of which he’s the younger brother of Paul Aucoin, the founder of Hylozoists. 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: JW Francis – “New York”

September 4, 2020 — Leave a comment

Those New York city folk certainly love a steaming hot cup of Joe. It’s new post time…

  • Pictured: JW Francis in a promo shoot for “We Share A Similar Joy” (in 2020) (Photo via PR/Sunday Best Recordings)

Good Morning! I am Jacob Braybrooke and, as always, I’m writing up your daily post on the blog, because it is routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Suffice to say, I don’t think J.W. Francis, a NYC-based indie singer-songwriter signed to Sunday Best Recordings, is the kind of artist to really take himself dead seriously. Francis describes himself as “a bedroom recording artist who writes musical diaries about living with his best friend in New York City.” He has been ramping up some popularity in recent months with listeners of BBC Radio 6Music and Dudlab with “New York”, the lead single from his forthcoming debut album, “We Share A Similar Joy”, which is set for a release in a few months time, on November 6th via Sunday Best Recordings. After a recent string of consistently lo-fi, upbeat Indie Pop-Rock singles and EP’s, the debut record will arrive to be as highly awaited by the diverse Internet Music Community. Speaking on “New York”, Francis said via press release: “I’m a licensed tour guide of NYC. This place has taught me so much. I wanted to write an homage, but also express how I feel, which is mostly contained in the first line of the song ‘I’ll sleep when dead’. This song is an ode to the city I live in. It’s about feeling frustration but also inspiration.” Let’s take a tour of “New York” with JW below.

In what feels like the USA’s answer to UK christmas classic “The Snowman”, JW Francis delivers an amusingly appropriate music video to complement the hazy, psychedelic atmosphere created by the funky, glossy guitar grooves of the track, as a product of itself. Beginning with the opening hook of “I sleep, I’m dead” to mark the arrival of the wonky, push-and-pull production of the bass guitar-driven refrains, Francis lays out a core melody that consistently shifts the leading pace of the track, and reveals new influences to the sound. He rhythmically quotes “It’s easier, I was on the up, I was with ya'” and “In the fall, you should call, you wrote a story” over a stumbling line of acoustic guitar riffs and a stuttering signature of Drum beats that sound frantically paced, but they never seem heavy or chaotic due to the mellow template of the subtly comforting and light-hearted warmth of Francis’ vocals. “I feel it in myself” marks a drastic key change, with the same guitar riffs of before feeling more subdued and relaxed, and the distracting Drum fragmentation is replaced by a steady-strummed signature which complements these slowed guitar riffs, before it gradually enters the fray again and slowly reverts back to the kinetic pacing that was previously withheld. While this track is part of an over-crowded Indie Rock market that may render this as forgettable by it’s commercial value, there’s no denying that “New York” is a track very fit for wishing it was summer in the approaching, wet and rainy autumn. It reflects the frantically moving hustle-and-bustle of it’s city’s lifestyle, yet the whimsical, ballard-driven elements and stop-and-start melodicism of the overall sound is enough to provide a break from the mundanity of a “typical life in NYC”, for me. This is a vibe that I’ve caught onto and it’s what makes this work so well.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “We Share A Similar Joy” (Available from November 6th, 2020) (via Sunday Best Recordings)

Thank you for reading this post! As per usual, I will be back tomorrow, with an in-depth look at another emerging artist. This time, we’re heading closer to my home in the UK, as we catch a glimpse of an emerging indie singer-songwriter from Leeds who performs under his own seperate moniker. His new track was recently featured on John Kennedy’s X-Posure show on Radio X, and he played a large hometown gig with a slot on the BBC Introducing Stage at the mainstream-friendly Reading and Leeds Festival in 2017. 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/