Lo-Fi

New Album Release Fridays: Soccer 96 (feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis) – ‘Yesterday Knows Me’

May 6, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Inner Worlds’ (LP/Album) (Released on May 6th, 2022) (via Moshi Moshi Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has finally arrived for us to enjoy some celestial analog Synths and lumbering Hi-Hat Drums 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! Sharon Van Etten, Belle and Sebastian, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Sunflower Bean, Peaness and – as my mother just informed me earlier this morning – Emeli Sande are all taking advantage of the warm weather (and a gap in the release schedule before Kendrick Lamar unleashes his new cryptic juggernaut next week) with new albums this week. Another LP release worth keeping an eye on is the latest album by the London-based Prog-Jazz duo Soccer96, which is comprised of keyboardist Dan Leavers (Danalogue) and drummer Max Hallett (Betamax) who are also members of The Comet Is Coming. The two musicians like to keep busy in their separate careers as well. Leavers has performed alongside Scratcha DVA and Henry Lu, and he has produced albums for Ibibio Sound Machine, Snapped Ankles and Flamingods. Meanwhile, Hallett is also a member of Hot Head Show and Super Best Friends Club – and he’s also played the live drums with Sons Of Kemet, Yussef Kamal and Melt Yourself Down. They have become a regular addition to my digital library with their ethereal blend of Sci Fi-leaning Electronica, post-apocalyptic Ambient and poly-rhythmic Grime-Jazz. For their live sets, the diverse duo also pride themselves on using no laptops, sequencers or software when they perform, instead opting to play each of their parts in the moment. ‘Inner Worlds’ is the follow-up to last year’s ‘Dopamine’, an ambitious record based loosely on a narrative centered around a corrupt AI system that landed a spot on my very own ‘Top 25 Best Albums Of The Year’ 2021-end list that was published back in January on the blog. It releases today digitally, but it won’t be available to purchase on physical formats until May 27th via Moshi Moshi Records. The leading single – ‘Yesterday Knows Me’ – enlists the aid of Salami Rose Joe Louis, who previously provided the vocals for ‘Sitting On A Satellite’ that was taken off 2021’s ‘Dopamine’. Check out the music video for the single below.

Rozi Plain, Simbad, Tom Herbert and The Colours That Rise also appear on the new release, and Soccer96 pitch it for your pleasure by noting, “We’ve been reflecting on the relationship between our inner worlds and outer worlds, how our minds shape our experience and our experience shapes our mind“, in the LP’s product description on their Bandcamp profile, concluding, “How caring and nurturing our inner worlds can improve our relationship with our outer experiences. We see the creation of music as the bridge between these two worlds“, in their own words. Building off the unorthodox time signatures and Space-Pop synths of ‘Dopamine’, Soccer96 invite us all into the alluring and deliberately mechanical tone of ‘Inner Worlds’ with a typically whimsical arrangement of multi-layered vocals and gently Trip Hop-leaning instrumentals. Their beats feel ‘broken’ and ‘wonky’ to a characteristic degree, and they are tuned well to the sounds of the Soul-tinged vocals by Joe Louis that feel slow-burning and almost robotic in delivery. Instrumentally, it’s all about the texture for Soccer96 as always, as the duo continue to lay out their formula of intense textures and rather meticulous compositions that straddle the line between chaos and order like a well-balanced walk on a tight rope, while giving off the hazy and psychedelic vibes that distort the vocals and loop the drums in a sense of propulsion that slowly ascends and descends gradually. The crunching break-beat plays catch up to the more upbeat keyboard work for the most part, while the sequences bass ostinato provides subtle hints to 70’s Psych-Funk and 90’s New-Age recordings at differing points. Towards the end, there’s also a squelching solo where the electronics are really turned up to eleven and replace the wide-eyed mood of the verses with an extra angle being added between the melee of the drums and keyboard where the cut is more focused on brute sonic impact. Musically, the lead single feels very varied while the barely audible lyrics add another dimension to the light grooves. The cohesion is solid though, and there’s certainly the creativity here to warrant the genre-fluid variety of styles feeling suitable together. It’s not really a major departure in sound for the duo, but it shows the experimental and independent duo doing what they do best and embracing their creative freedom to deliver a fascinating and imaginative tapestry of textures, moods and functions. This is bound to be another Soccer96 record that you should not miss.

Pictured: Dan Leavers (Keyboard/Synths) and Max Hallett (Drums/Percussion) (2021) (Photo Credit: William Barnes)

Looking for more where that came from? Check out my previous Soccer96 post here:

‘Sitting On A Satellite’ (feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis) (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/09/24/new-album-release-fridays-soccer96-feat-salami-rose-joe-louis-sitting-on-a-satellite/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Dopamine’ (Released on September 24th, 2021) (via Moshi Moshi Records)

That brings us to the bottom of the page once again, and I thank you very much for your support today and over the years. Remarkably, I have just reached the milestone of 1,000 posts being published on the site, as of yesterday. There will be no new daily post tomorrow in the traditional sense, but please stay tuned to the homepage and the social media profiles for an important announcement arriving in the coming days.

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New Album Release Fridays: Kurt Vile – ‘Like Exploding Stones’

April 15, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Watch My Moves’ (LP/Album) (Released on April 15th, 2022) (via Verve Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and you’re tuned into One Track At A Time – your daily destination for all things nice and niche – musically – as we gear up for yet another 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! Fresh albums by the likes of 50 Foot Wave, Fozzy and High Pulp are all landing in the shelves of your favourite record shop today, but whenever there’s a new album by the Liberty Bell-award winning Pensylvania-born alternative rock singer-songwriter Kurt Vile joining the equation, it’s always worth a listen. You may know Vile for being the former lead guitarist of The War On Drugs and, in 2017, he recorded ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ with Australian indie rock powerhouse Courtney Barnett as a collaborative LP project. His free-wheeling ninth solo studio album – ‘Watch My Moves’ – is out today via Verve Records, and it is his first album release for that label. This promises to be a surrealistic and psychedelic expansion of Vile’s trippy universe, and it marks his first solo recorded project since 2018’s ‘Bottle It In’ increased his exposure to the world. The main draw of attraction to the new album is that it marks the reunion of The Violators, his dedicated touring and backing band. He will also be touring throughout Europe, the UK, and the US in 2022, with a performance at All Points East Festival in London this summer. On that note – get yourself prepared with the 7-minute ballad, ‘Like Exploding Stones’, below.

Lo-Fi and home-focused, the new album was recorded mostly in his own Mount Airy-based studio of OKV Central to follow in the past footsteps of Waylon Jennings’ DIY recordings in Hillbilly Central, which used to be Tompall Glaser’s studio. He teases, “It’s about songwriting. It’s about lyrics. It’s about being the master of all domains in the music. I’m always thinking about catchy music, even though it’s fried, or sizzled, out. It’s my own version of a classic thing – it’s moving forward and backward at the same time”, in his reflective statement on ‘Watch My Moves’ in a press release. Vile revs up the guitar and vocals from the off-set, laying down a languid sequence of sprawling Synths and a melodic kick drum beat as the very stoner-like guitar riffs simply linger along to his psychedelic vibe and slowly ascending Tempo. Lyrics like “Dreaming of a time where everything rhymed and I was calm, cool and collected” and “Thoughts become pictures, become movies in my mind” paint a vibrant picture of Vile’s mental space, while hooks like “Pain ricochet in my brain, like exploding stones” are set against the backdrop of euphoric Synths and lop-sided guitar lines. His vocals sound plaintive and deadpan, to a point, throughout – yet he comes off as more unburdened and zoned-out than melancholic or miserable by the way that he conjures images of dreaming and travelling without worrying about where they may lead. He references movie marathons, pinball machines and guitar feedback in his lyrics to make him feel self-aware among the highly textured instrumentation. There’s also a neat saxophone solo towards the end recited by James Stewart of Sun Ra Arkestra that blows against the accompaniment of Vile’s running commentary to add more punch to the proceedings. Seven minutes is long for a traditional single release, but Vile manages to justify the length by keeping the elements fresh and paying off the moving parts with his vivid textures and his thoughtful musings on his anxieties. Like Exploding Stones – it goes down naturally and feels like an explosion of concepts.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ (LP) (with Courtney Barnett) (Released in 2017) (via Matador Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to review the returning single from one of the world’s most popular virtual Art-Pop bands who were formed as a collective of creatives assembled across the globe, releasing a UK Top 40 album in 2018. They have also contributed a track to the soundtrack of ‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’ that was released back in 2019.

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Today’s Track: Yunè Pinku – ‘DC Rot’

April 14, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Yunè Pinku in promotional artwork for the ‘Bluff’ EP (2022) (Photo Credit: Joshua Onabowu)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to get typing up for yet another 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! Teen Techno music producer Yuné Pinku is an emerging name in the alternative dance music community with a love for Madonna and Billy Joel drawing from her influences of 90’s Acid House and classic UKG recordings. Her sturdy profile includes a collaboration with Australian experimental music producer Logic1000 for the track ‘What You Like’ from 2021. She has also been co-signed by Joy Orbison, who invited her to contribute a guest mix for his residency on BBC Radio 1 last year. The 19-year-old artist has her roots found in Malaysia and Ireland, and you can hear her most recent work through her debut EP release – ‘Bluff’ – which is out now via PLATOON. She says, “Bluff is about letting go and reeling in, finding your feet in the night life world. I think this song is kind of an ode to London night life and it’s a song I think really sums up my feeling of the good times I had as a teenager in London, but also with the slight paranoia of the danger that exists in the night world”, when explaining her experiences of carving out her niche as a bedroom pop producer in the EDM world. If you live in London, you can also catch her playing at The Bermondsey Social Club for her debut headline show appearance on April 29h. The penultimate single to be lifted from the EP is ‘DC Rot’, and the music video acts as an ode to the homemade skateboarding reels of the 00’s. It stars her sister Faith – who also happens to be a pro skater. Let’s check it out below.

Acknowledging her passion for the craft of Skateboarding in Synth-heavy style on ‘DC Rot’, the London-based DJ says, “DC Rot is an exploration of a year and all the things you can do in one”, adding, “Whether it’s coming out of hibernation and getting older, experiencing in excess whether that be negative or positive. Putting yourself out there and sometimes getting hurt, but just going on a pilgrimage of all the things you can and can’t do. In this case, a motif is skate culture hence the title DC Rot, it can be such a freeing culture but can be pretty shakey at other times, constantly shifting”, in her attached notes. ‘DC Rot’ captures the vibe of a 00’s throwback like Peggy Gou and Park Hye Jin, balancing out a multi-tude of wavering beats and interchangeable grooves that are initially built from dissonant piano house keys and a robust kick drum sequence, while Pinku’s nonchalant vocals recite melodic lyrics like “Funky baby on the clock/Vodka tonic, 3 ‘o’ clock” and “3 more lover, down with hot/I can’t not see you enough” with a hazy, relaxed feel that makes the EDM-driven track feel like a suitable accompaniment to an evening where you are preparing for a night out. The phased-out breakbeats and the crystalline synths make for an intriguing contrast to the conversational, gently spoken-sung delivery of the vocals. This successful blurs any idea that Pinku is placing herself into a box of specific genre conventions, and the gleaming warmth of Pinku’s production manages to make the melodic progression feel quite futuristic. Her voice, meanwhile, sighs and demures magnetically to draw you into her sonic pallete before the pace spirals more uncontrollably. The pipe harmonies and the Chill Hop-oriented breakbeats pull the scene back on course later, creating a sense of unpredictable layering that feels reflective of Pinku’s lyrical themes of expressing her perceived loss of purpose in life outside of the night club’s doors. Charming and refreshing, ‘DC Rot’ shows that Pinku has the talent to disregard old traits and step into a more futuristic sound instead, while carrying herself as more than just a monetisable project with her more gripping statement of intent creatively.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Bluff’ (EP) (Released on April 1st, 2022) (via PLATOON)

That brings me right to the end of another daily post, and thank you for continuing to support the site every day! I’ll be back tomorrow, where it’s shaping up to be a ‘Good Friday’ because there’s another entry of ‘New Album Release Fridays’ in store for you. We’ll be previewing the new solo album from a Tom Petty and Neil Young-influenced rock star known for his work as the former lead guitarist of The War On Drugs, if you’d like to join me then. He also co-created ‘Lotta See Lice’ with Courtney Barnett in 2017.

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Today’s Track: Porij – ‘Figure Skating’

March 14, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: ‘Eggy’ (Lead Vocals/Keyboard), ‘Tommy’ (Rhythm Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals), ‘Jammo’ (Bass Guitar/Percussion) and ‘Tom’ (Drums/Occasional Backing Vocals) (in July 2021) (Photo via The Guardian/PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke here – and it’s time for me to kick off another long week’s worth of daily track posts on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Porij are back with ‘Figure Skating’, their first new track of 2022, and it warms me up for what’s shaping up to be yet another hectic and engaging year for the Manchester Art-Pop collective – who were formed by Eggy (Vocals/Keys), Tommy (Guitar/Vocals), Jammo (Bass/Percussion) and Tom (Drums/Vocals) when they studied and stayed together at The Royal Nothern College of Music. They explore a fluidity between genres such as House, Liquid Drum ‘N’ Bass, Garage, New Wave and Lo-Fi Rock under the Indie Pop umbrella, with early covers of tracks originally from The Prodigy and Disclosure earning them attention from industry insiders. Porij have released a wide range of singles like ‘Nobody Scared’, ‘Can’t Stop’ and ‘Dirty Love’, some of which were also released on 2020’s ‘Breakfast’ and 2021’s ‘Baby Face’ EP’s, and a lot of these tracks have been selected for daytime airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music. Support has also poured in from ITV Granada, The Guardian, NME, DIY Mag and more including, since I haven’t forgot to mention, this very blog. As I mentioned, it’s looking like a restless year for Porij as they will be supporting Lynks, Metronomy and Obongjayar on tours throughout the year, playing a handful of solo headline gigs, and they will be performing at various music festivals in the summer months like Green Man and The Great Escape. The Winter Olympics may finally be over, but, for their latest track, Porij explore intimacy and immovability through ‘Figure Skating’. Let’s give it a spin below.

Porij – pronounced as ‘Porridge’ as you would expect – seemingly picked their name at random as an inside joke between the band’s original four members, and they recruited future touring partner Lynks to show off his ice figure skating skills in the music video for their most recent track. The band break ‘Figure Skating’ down by saying, “Figure Skating is about intimacy and sensuality in moments that aren’t overtly sexual”, in a press release, explaining, “It’s appreciating romance in the day to day, not the big dramas or passions but the kind of stuff that’s put in a montage in a film. It’s an insight into a secure relationship and explores the moments that are beautifully average, but somehow turn out to be the best bits”, in the note. Starting off with humming synths that evoke a Horn-like texture, Porij take to the rink with soft and gliding vocals which convey the high level of trust and the rehearsed training that goes into a couples ice skating dance routine, with lyrics in the verses like “Crinkled eyes cut white and blue/When I tickle your elbow grease” that sound a little witty on paper while also toying with the close level of intimacy found in the warm textures of the euphoric synths and the right drum melodies. Lyrics like “Inverse, Focus/I’ll hold you down, just you and me” and “Drifting past subconscious feel/Phaser building from within” achieve the similar effects of the Soulful vocals in the verses and chorus, while Eggy’s post-chorus croon of “Skin lying under me” glides seamlessly above the more high tempo percussion. The bassline has the driving melodies and the lyrical determination of a modern dance track, but their croons keep the tone feeling very warm and more grounded in emotive qualities throughout the 4-minute number. Overall, ‘Figure Skating’ just shows Porij getting even better and better, and they were already fairly good to begin with. The track embraces dance music culture, but the band never forgets the inward ideas of intimacy and profound deepness in which they shaped the songwriting and production around. I was simply along for the skate.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Baby Face’ (EP) (Released on September 22nd, 2021) (via Oat Gang Records)

If ‘Figure Skating’ finds you scavenging for more of Porij, you can check out some of their other tracks on the blog below:

‘Can’t Stop’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/11/30/todays-track-porij-cant-stop/

‘Nobody Scared’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/06/15/todays-track-porij-nobody-scared/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Nobody Scared’ (Single) (Released on April 21st, 2021) (via Oat Gang Records)

That brings us to the end of another blog post for today! Thank you for checking out my little musing and thank you for sparing a moment of time out of you day to show some support for independent creatives like Porij and myself today. I’ll be back tomorrow for something a little bit different as we take a listen to some contemporary classical music from another Manchester-formed act who were shortlisted for the Mercury Prize in 2014. They are currently signed to Blue Note Records, and their most recent single is their first to feature drummer Jon Scott, who replaced Rob Turner in December 2021 for their line-up. They will play at Cambridge’s Junction in November.

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Today’s Track: Maylee Todd – ‘Show Me’

March 10, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Toronto’s Maylee Todd in a recent photoshoot to promote ‘Maloo’ (2022) (Photo via TheStar.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived for me to guide you through yet another exciting daily track on the blog from a very brave and ambitious singer-songwriter, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Brave’ and ‘Ambitious’ are just two words that describe the Toronto-based Art Pop musician Maylee Todd, who is new to this young writer’s eardrums, who has experimented with instruments as obscure as the Paraguayan Harp and the Tenori-on in her career since she began recording material in the 00’s. Todd has played across numerous festivals including the Crossover Jazz Fest and the Billboard Live Stage, she has performed alongside the likes of Janelle Monae, The Budos Band, Aloe Blacc and Thundercat on stage throughout the years, and she contributed her vocals to Bob Wiseman’s collaborative LP release ‘Giuletta Masina At The Oscars Crying’ in 2012. Todd was also the creator of Virtual Womb, a practical art exhibition where the audience walks through an enlarged CGI image of a Vagina and lies on the floor, awaiting the vibrant projections that float across on the ceiling, in 2017. Maylee Todd’s music seems just as visual and provoking, as a wide assortment of Indie Pop, Prog Jazz, Psych Funk, Bossa Nova and more have been incorporated into the sounds of her musical projects. Her latest full-length album – ‘Maloo’ – was released on March 4th via Stones Throw Records – an eclectic Funk, Jazz and Soul specialist label based in Los Angeles, California that has introduced several amazing artists like MNDSGN, John Carroll Kirby and Kiefer to my streaming libraries throughout the last few years of my work. Let’s give ‘Show Me’ a listen below.

To produce her latest artsy-craftsy LP project, Maylee Todd spent a lot of time researching VR throughout the pandemic, which led to some ideas on utopian, futuristic technology. The result is ‘Maloo’, a fictional character that she has designed in virtual reality that she created while working on the story and setting of a prototype VR video game, as she learned the skills of 3D modelling and body tracking to bring her vision to life. Dubbed as ‘The Age Of Energy’, a virtual space where the character is based, the concept album and the ‘Maloo’ avatar are influenced by intimate, personal origins. As Todd writes, “We participate in the digital landscape and our digital life has real-life implications”, in her press statement. Musically, she wrote and recorded ‘Show Me’ as the introductory single with the Yamaha Tenori-on – a discontinued electronic sequencer that was built by Toshio Iwai, a Japanese interactive media and installation artist. Her single begins with some glitched keyboard chords that convey visuals of futuristic cyberspace and post-modern technology immediately. The bass grooves grow deeper as her downtempo vocals become more hypnotic, and she allures you in to ‘Show Me’ with a noticeably Soulful skew that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Sly & The Family Stone or a Toro Y Moi record in it’s nostalgic, but free-form, nature. Lyrics like “Watch the birds, take their form/Icy hands, blood is warm” complement the peaceful and tranquil vibes, while the minimalist chorus of “Show me, your heart” is deep and intimate in it’s Lo-Fi textures. ‘Maloo’ may be conceptually driven and visually influenced at large, but the single is accessible enough to a fairly mainstream because it feels simple yet not simplistic. I also really admire the work that Todd has put into ‘giving the project her all’ by focusing on how the audio-visual aspects of the piece were written in tandem with her vocals. It reminds me of Bjork and St. Vincent, who are undoubtedly driven artists that have similar characteristics of boldness and communicating an idea through all aspects of the media at their disposal. In conclusion, it seems clear that Maylee Todd has a lot more to ‘Show Me’ – and I look forwards to seeing the rest of it.

Pictured: Vinyl Copy of ‘Maloo’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 4th, 2022) (via Stones Throw Records)

(That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you very much for reading what I had to say about Maylee Todd for a few moments today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to guide you through a sneek peek at one of the weekend’s notable and new album releases. This week’s post involves the debut LP release from an emerging Alternative Rock 4-piece Post-Rock band who have been supported by the daytime playlist of BBC Radio 6 Music and they have been praised by NME. If you’re a fan of hard rock outfits such as Coach Party and Kid Kapichi – you’re going to enjoy it!

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Today’s Track: Melody’s Echo Chamber – ‘Looking Backward’

February 19, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Emotional Eternal’ (LP) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via Domino Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to provide a soothing start to your Saturday with a huge new single by a returning artist for yet another daily track on the blog, given how it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I hope you enjoyed my post about Beach House yesterday – and if you love your Dream-Pop and your Chamber-Pop music of the Shoegaze-esque style, we’ve also got a new album from Melody’s Echo Chamber to look forwards to. This is the lush solo project from French songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Melody Prochet, who recorded her early work with then-boyfriend Kevin Parker of Tame Impala fame, who recorded her debut album in his makeshift studio in Perth, Australia for a release date in late 2012 – and she supported his band on a European tour in 2010. Another album followed since then – 2018’s ‘Bon Boyage’ – which was delayed by a brain aneurysm and a broken vertebrae following a serious accident, and so it’s amazing that nothing has hindered her ahead of ‘Emotional Eternal’, a new album that she will be releasing on April 29th via Domino Recordings. She has released material on Fat Possum Records previously, and her associated projects include My Bee’s Garden and The Narcoleptic Dancers. She is also known for her frequent collaborations with the Stockholm-based Alternative Rock band Dungen. Her music has gained acclaim by sources like Drowned In Sound, Q Magazine, Uncut and AllMusic, and Prochet has a sublime melting pot of influences including Cocteau Twins, Stereolab and Broadcast. Speaking of her upcoming album, she says, “I made some big and impactful decisions and changes to my life. It took me to where it is peaceful, and I think the record reflects this. It’s more direct”, in a press release. Check out the 3D-animated video by Hyoyon Paik for lead single, ‘Looking Backward’, below.

It is clear that creating ‘Looking Backward’ came from a mind-set of finding clarity after spending some time away from making music and enjoying a regular pace of life – given how the gauzy sounds represent a far more grounded and mindful creative process for Melody Prochet – and she also adds, “I wrote the lyrics on my way to Stockholm, in transit at the airport, there was a man creating light reflections with his watch and playing with light on the floors and walls. It felt like an act coming from a source of pure creativity, it made me happy to catch it and inspired me to write the song”, in her press release about the comeback track. Going straight back to the Psych-Pop and the Synth-based work that has made her a big name in music, Prochet begins with the wide-eyed and gauzy lyrics of “I’m reflecting light/Play it on the wall” and “Did you see me looking?/I’m not interested” that make her intentions clear as multi-layered vocals and a firm backing beat push her melodies forwards, creating a driving arrangement of luxuriating Synths and glistening guitar riffs. Lyrics like “Constellation of love/I know that dream/It can’t be real” and “I need the space of time/And you’re running out of time” bask in the shimmering sounds of the highly psychedelic Synth sequences and the Harp-like sound effects, set against the soothing backdrop that has a light Funk influence to it. Lyrically introspective, Prochet neatly matches some gently playful drums and synths with an intimate arrangement that makes heartfelt lyrics like “No, I didn’t need your light” and “You’re not alone/On this lonesome road” sound that little bit more brutal and, most importantly, human. In conclusion, ‘Looking Backward’ is a very welcome return from a clearly talented artist who is honestly experimenting with the concept of providing a more stripped back response to the dense arrangements of her previous work to explore elements of her own social life and a perception of her actual identity at a brisk pace, yet with careful consideration. This is fantastic work for any fans of MGMT, Tame Impala or Miami Horror – yet it has that vital ability to stand out on it’s own too.

Pictured: Melody Prophet performing a live set at FYF Fest (2015) (Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat)

That brings us, swiftly, to the end of another daily post on the blog today. Thank you for spending a few moments of your day to lend me your nifty pair of eyelids and eardrums, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we remember the past of the Pop-Punk genre for another weekly iteration of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the site. We’ll be revisiting a progressive anthem from a well-known Alternative Metal band from Huntington Beach, California who currently boast the former Bad Religion drummer of Brooks Wackerman among their line-up. They will make their debut appearance on the blog.

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Today’s Track: Toro Y Moi – ‘Postman’

February 15, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Mahal’ (LP) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via Dead Oceans)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived for me to virtually hand-deliver yet another daily track on the blog to your letterbox, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We start the day with ‘Postman’ – a track that my mother is bound to enjoy since parcels are her thing. This is the new single from the South Carolina-born producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and graphic designer Toro Y Moi (aka Chad Bear), who is typically recognized as a figurehead for the Chillwave and Synthwave genres from the 2010’s, but his music also toes the line between a brevity of genres including Noise-Pop, Hip Hop, Post-Disco, Psychedelic Soul, Bedroom Pop, Ambient House and Alternative Rock. He has supported the likes of Ruby Suns, Phoenix and Caribou on tour and he has performed his single ‘Ordinary Pleasure’ on Ellen’s talk show. ‘Postman’ has been released as a double single that also includes ‘Magazine’ which features Salami Rose Joe Louis as the featured credit. These two singles are leading his new album ‘MAHAL’ that explores his Fillipino descent and it will be releasing on April 29th via Dead Oceans – the same label as the likes of Mitski, Shame, Khruangbin and Bright Eyes. The new record is a generous 13-track collection which includes contributions from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson, Sofie Royer, The Matson 2 and Alan Polomo (of Neon Indian). Let’s pay his ‘Postman’ a visit below.

‘Postman’ and ‘Magazine’ are the follow-up singles to 2019’s ‘Outer Peace’ – Bear’s sixth studio album. He also collaborated with Flume on ‘The Difference’ during May of 2020, a collaborative single that scored a Grammy nomination and it was used in a global Apple AirBuds advertising campaign. Channeling his inner Bootsy Collins with ‘Postman’, Bear lays out some slinky Psych-Soul beats and some low fidelity Funk grooves that are accelerated by some breezy percussion, like the rattling Tambourine melodies, and the more melodic, driving Bass melodies. Aside from some occasional electronic yelps that sound amusing in how comedically processed they are, the vocals are pretty spacious. Lyrics like “Just another bill today/Just another bill to pay” are direct and to the point, while the repetition of questions like “Mr Postman, did I get a letter?/Did I get a postcard” reflect on the good old-fashioned anticipation that you experience while waiting for an inevitable arrival of a piece of post, a time that we’ve all been through. The last verse, however, features a more emotive lyric of “Mama wrote a letter/A Long time ago/Then she hit her head/God bless her soul” that implies that something more dark is occurring beneath the surface, albeit in a playful way when mixed to the slow rhyming scheme of Bear’s vocal delivery, followed by the glitched outro that feels slightly futuristic by heading towards indie computer music in the brief sequence. Bear clearly leans into how post is a little non-existent in our modern day and age to create some fun and give his track a feel that is both nostalgic and a little progressive. We get a strong grower overall that is a little bizzare, but in a good way, because the composition is frisky and the repetition builds on you with a few repeated listens, and it is the kind of track that can annoy you by getting stuck in your head at work all evening – and that’s coming from my personal experience – thus becoming a catchy little ear-worm. I really liked it with subsequent listens, and I’ve enjoyed quite a lot of Toro Y Moi’s music in the past since it has an air of ‘Almost Pop’ to it where he has a knack for structuring catchy chords and writing high-spirited hooks by directing a decent diversity of various influences, yet it is within his Lo-Fi and Minimalist production that really controls the pace. It has also been a long time since we’ve heard some new solo material from him in comparison to most other artists these days, perhaps, too – and so it feels like a welcome breath of fresh air to hear from him again on ‘Postman’. An engaging and quirky letter of revival and return.

Pictured: Toro Y Moi with Flume in a PR photoshoot for ‘The Difference’ (2020) (Photo Credit: Joyce Kim)

If you want to hear how Toro Y Moi’s style meshes with Flume, you can gauge ‘The Difference’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/06/todays-track-flume-feat-toro-y-moi-the-difference/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Difference’ (Single) (Released on April 30th, 2020) (via Future Classic Records)

That’s all that I have time for today, but I hugely appreciate your support by checking out the blog every day, or for the first time today, as you continue to spread the love to the site this Valentine’s Day despite it being finished. ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ is lined up for tomorrow, where we’ll be revisiting a classic of the Hip-Hop genre of the 1990’s by the Alternative Hip-Hop collective who made Charli 2na a household name.

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Today’s Track: Jordana – ‘Catch My Drift’

February 14, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Face The Wall’ (LP) (Available from May 5th, 2022) (via Grand Jury Music)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I hope that your eardrums are ready for yet another 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! A 20-year-old singer songwriter originally from Wichita, Kansas who I believe is based in Los Angeles, California – Jordana Nye is another in a long line of Bedroom Pop artists that has something unique to offer, and I gave her unanimous praise for her mid-pandemic singles ‘I Guess This Is Life’ and ‘Reason’ on the blog in 2020 when I discovered her. Her musical career began when her father, who was an organist at her local church, encouraged her to learn how to play instruments, and so she started on the Violin before picking up the Guitar, and she also went on to busk on the boardwalk of North Beach, Maryland when she was 13. Later, she released her debut album – ‘Classical Notions Of Self-Happiness’ – in 2019 that she entirely self-released and self-produced in her bedroom, and, in December 2020, she released a combination of two EP’s – ‘Something To Say To You’ – to essentially form up her second album. She has also collaborated with Magdalena Bay, TV Girl, Jordan Woods and producer MELVV and she will be supporting Wallows on tour in May 2020. Currently signed to Grand Jury Music, Jordana is back and she will release her next full-length LP, ‘Face The Wall’, on May 20th. She played every instrument on it by herself and it was co-produced by Cameron Hale (Claud, Khalid, Neon Trees). So far, her music has toed a line between a brevity of genres including Grunge, Lo-Fi Pop, Pop-Punk and Alternative Folk – but it has always been her notably playful personality and her gently philosophical style of songwriting that has stood out for me. On her Bandcamp page, her album’s listing has hinted at veganism, religion, upbringing and sexuality as themes to be explored on the record. “The album title has a few meanings to me”, Nye says in a press release, adding, “Mostly, it’s about not giving up. The wall can be anything in your way. The album is sort of a reminder to myself that I have to face those things, and I can’t take the easy route and turn around”. Check out the latest single – ‘Catch My Drift’ – below.

‘Face The Wall’ is Jordana’s first album to be recorded in a studio instead of her home, and she has solo headline shows planned to take place across the US in June 2022. Along with the music video for ‘Catch My Drift’, she says, “This song is about going back and forth with your feelings for someone when they make you question whether they are even reciprocated. The song is about realizing you shouldn’t be totally dependent on anybody, and that it’s a waste of energy”, in her press release. A natural choice for a single, ‘Catch My Drift’ is a catchy Pop-driven Punk number that, with its music video, transports you back to the mid-00’s where Pop-Punk reigned supreme with female artists like Avril Lavigne and Paramore’s Hayley Williams filling the air with care-free and commercial anthems about reasoned dismissals of ex-lovers, but Jordana doesn’t just pull the nostalgia card and she decorates the throwback with her personal commentary. I also love how she fills the video with a caricature of characters, like the bassist and the drummer, that are played by herself dressed in questionable outfits. It feels almost like Aphex Twin and the ‘Come To Daddy’ video by concept, and it definitely conveys her sense of humor in a fun way. It helps that the frenetic guitar riffs, with a water-tight bridge that reminds me of the 80’s and echoes the likes of Simple Minds or The Cure, are very catchy and fit the fairly light-hearted tone of the melodies. The Synths are fast and furious too, aiding the lyrics where Jordana croons hooks like “I hate to say I told you so/It’s no mistake to be alone” and “Do you catch my drift?/Are you picking up what I’m putting down” with the sense that she’s not holding her breath for wish fulfillment. There’s an excellent mixture of strength and vulnerability in her vocals and the propulsive bass and drums combo of the chorus wraps up her lovesick pain with a feeling of progression and moving forwards in personal matters. I certainly think that, if an act with a more known name or a higher profile released this exact same single tomorrow – like Taylor Swift or Olivia Rodrigo – it would get played all over the likes of BBC Radio 1 or BBC Radio 2. Therefore, it is a pity that she’s not one of them and she doesn’t quite have the same following yet. However, this is still a punchy and effortlessly likeable preview of the upcoming album that we can take pride in keeping to ourselves a little bit, although I really want for people to hear Jordana’s music and get the experience of hearing her voice. Every one of her tracks have been an absolute joy for me to listen to so far and I can’t wait to see how the new album shakes up because I strongly feel that Jordana is a real talent. Retro, accessible and intimate – ‘Catch My Drift’ is incredibly irresistible.

Pictured: Jordana Nye in a photoshoot for the ‘Something To Say To You’ EP (2020) (Photo Credit: Jacob Clark)

If this post has inspired you to check out some of Jordana’s other great material, you can get started on her discography with my post about ‘I Guess This Is Life’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/10/todays-track-jordana-i-guess-this-is-life/. Alternatively, there’s another ‘Reason’ for you to check out her earlier work here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/12/07/todays-track-jordana-reason/.

Pictured: Jordana in an official photoshoot for ‘Something To Say To You’ EP (2020) (Photo by Grand Jury Music)

That brings us to the end of the page for another roughly 24-hour period, and I have little else to say than to thank you for taking some time out of your day to check out this music today. Feel welcome to come back tomorrow, where we will be listening to some fresh music from a South Carolina-born producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and graphic designer who is usually recognized as one of the pioneers of the Chillwave movement from the 2010’s. He collaborated with Flume during 2020.

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Today’s Track: HighSchool – ‘Frosting’

February 3, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Forever At Last’ (Released on November 1st, 2021) (via Dalliance Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and it is time for me to get typing up for yet another quick 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! A trio who spent a long period of over 200 days in lockdown together in their native hometown in the suburbs of Brunswick, Australia – HighSchool are a new Melbourne Post-Punk trio who were formed during 2020 and they have resurfaced after a year of writing and recording an extensive body of work to decent acclaim, with recent singles like ‘Jerry’ and ‘New York, Paris and London’ gaining airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music courtesy of Steve Lamacq’s ‘The New Music Fix’ programming during the early hours of Friday morning each week. Comprised of Lilli Trobbiani, Rory Trobbiani and Luke Scott, the band produces reverb-drenched rock that encompasses between genres like Noise-Punk, Industrial Rock and 00’s Post-Punk Revival in their atmospherically gloomy, but also slightly wistful and textured sounds. Known for their subversive Goth imagery, HighSchool have been finding popularity on Bandcamp recently with the release of their debut EP – ‘Forever At Last’ – which was released on November 1, 2021 via the British-based record label Dalliance Recordings. Check out the single ‘Frosting’ below.

HighSchool recorded their six-track EP project with Archie Shannon from Floodlights behind the decks and it compiles each of their singles to date including ‘De Facto’ and ‘Sirens’, plus the title track and three more, some of which songs have demo versions that date back to late 2020 in terms of their development stages. Opening the short-form release is ‘Frosting’, a Shoegaze-influenced jam that I have been playing on repeat personally, as it reminds me of The Smiths in quite a huge way due to the bittersweet qualities of the emotions and the melancholic sound of the simple guitar strumming that is accompanied by some edgy Goth-rock imagery during the official music video, while it also feels more Lo-Fi than your average Post-Punk act, with some fuzzy guitar riffs that remind me of the DIY Pop music that’s been coming out of the New York psych scene courtesy of artists like JW Francis, combining the moody aesthetics with a softer side that allows the radiant Soft-Rock to lay some emotional groundwork for the swooning lyrics and the sense of longing that is created by Rory Trobbiani’s lead vocals in the delivery. Lyrics like “The second I saw you dance/I was waiting on a love I never knew” and “You can’t win the war if you don’t know who the enemy is” feel contemplative and recall the angst-ridden undercurrent of bands like The Fall in the mid-1980’s, and they’re backed up by a soundscape of textbook Post-Punk where the drowsing guitar effects and the nostalgic Synth riffs, along with a briefly fluttering String sample section, provide an emotive backdrop to support the industrial Bass rhythms that are looped underneath. It feels polished and tidy, but the lead vocals are delightfully slathered in Jangle-Rock guitars that distort the clarity of the nuanced lyrics. Such lyrics recall particularly intimate seconds of time from the past, such as “Can’t say I don’t miss holding hands/And chasing afternoons”, that create more substance for the emotive qualities, as opposed to replicating some of their contemporaries that have been etched into the ‘Indie Landfill’ classification that becomes difficult to break away from. While the music is most reminiscent of modern Pop-Punk and wry Industrial Rock, it almost continues the tradition of bands like Slowdive and DIIV by the creation of the melancholic soundscapes that contain pretensions of stylisation and visual art, but it is more warmly delivered and it aims to uplift Rory Trobbiani’s vocals from a mood of longing to a more nostalgic one. They already sound like a more experienced act than they probably are, and that sounds really great as their music mostly leans on the gloomy side without simply pointing at trademarks of the key influences. Fantastic instrumentally and beautifully performed.

Pictured: HighSchool (aka Lilli Trobbiani, Rory Tribbiani and Rory Tribbiani) (2021) (Photo Credit: Hector Clark)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post, and, for the first time of the year, we seem to have a truly stacked line-up of new albums vying for your attention from tomorrow onwards, and we’ll be selecting one of them as a neat sampler for our ‘New Album Release Fridays’ post tomorrow. We’ll be previewing the newest album from a Missouri-formed indie rock band whose heavy music has been featured in advertisements for Apple, NFL and Bose. They have supported acts like Phoenix, Vance Joy, Joywave, and Cold War Kids on tour since autumn 2018 onwards.

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Today’s Track: Earl Sweatshirt (feat. Armand Hammer) – ‘Tabula Rasa’

January 31, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘SICK’ (LP) (Released on January 14th, 2022) (via Tan Cressida/Warner Records)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned in to One Track At A Time with your regular writer Jacob Braybrooke, and you are right on time for yet another daily track on the blog, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We finally move into February shortly, as we complete our various ‘First Month Of The Year’ challenges, but one of the albums that really seemed to strike a chord with critics and audiences alike in January was ‘SICK’, the new 10-track mixtape-style LP offering by Chicago-born and Los Angeles-based Hip Hop artist Earl Sweatshirt, who began his rap career as Sly Tendencies in 2008 and later joined the alternative Hip-Hop collective Odd Futures – led by Tyler, The Creator – to cause a name change in 2009. ‘SICK’ had an enigmatic promotional campaign heading in to release, despite a few singles being unveiled prior to release, and it has garnered an impressive score of 86/100 on Metacritic. Kitty Empire wrote that it was “a musically rich reset” in her four-star review for The Guardian, while a perfect review by Marcus Shorter for Consequence In Sound hails it up with “The rapping is impeccable, and the project doesn’t overstay its welcome” in his rave assessment. Sweatshirt has also recently performed a single taken off the ‘SICK’ LP – ‘2010’ – live on ‘The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon’ in the US, and so the appeal of the record isn’t incredibly far outside of the mainstream. One of the singles – ‘Tabula Rasa’ – features the critically acclaimed New York-based duo of Armand Hammer (ELUCID & Billy Woods) who wax poetic lyrics while politely taking their turn above the ethereal Piano melody and some fragmented sampling that create a dense backdrop for their individual truths to lethargically spit over their collective public manifesto. It also comes with a uniquely unpolished music video that finds the three producers make their Lo-Fi magic happen in the recording studio, or – in the case of Woods – grilling some ribs, by the look of it.

“Sick is my humble offering of 10 songs recorded in the wake of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns”, Earl Sweatshirt tells the music press, explaining, “Before the virus, I had been working on an album I named after a book I used to read with my mother (‘The People Could Fly’). Once the lockdowns hit, people couldn’t fly anymore. A wise man said art imitates life. People were sick. The People were angry and isolated and restless. I leaned into the chaos ’cause it was apparent that it wasn’t going anywhere. These songs are what happened when I would come up for air”, in his press release for the ‘SICK’ record. In the case of ‘Tabula Rasa’, it is vital to note that this Latin phrase roughly translates to ‘Blank Slate’ in English, and so it is believable that Sweatshirt and his two partners are rapping about how we are all born without any mental knowledge on the ambiguous minimalist rap jam, with the two outfits trading sequences like “This game of telephone massive/I do what I have to with the fragments” that each convey feelings of urgency and calming processes as the rappers reflect on how the dread of the Covid-19 pandemic affected their lyrical musings of truth as the remedy for the problems that arise. Challenging lyrics like “I have to write to find balance” and “I watch re-runs in the dark, fingers and lips glistening” also simplify the matters of mental health issues and how we find our humanity through mundane tasks that we still enjoy doing, like how “I made chicken late night in my boxers/Burning up the kitchen” nearly ends the final verse on a slightly witty note and how the small details of this action convey something more profound about how we treat ourselves to small luxuries when we’re all alone to remind ourselves of how important that we are. While there’s a lot that we could discuss lyrically, the instrumentation is noticeably more restrained and subdued. The sampling is psychedelic and smart, with mere teasers of voice clips and broken-sounding Vinyl cracks that briefly divert the groove away from the scattered, soulful sample of a 70’s Jazz Club performance setting, giving off the effect that we’re listening to a broken record as the audience. The intricate wordplay is the emphasis of the beat, with the three rappers creating some subtle verses with an interchanged dynamic between the three of them where lessons of finding wisdom and ruminating upon remedies with a grit-laced but positively weighty sense of resolution. Overall, while this is a challenging listen, at first, because the structure is created by a few straightforward stream-of-consciousness rap verses instead of a melodic series of hooks, Sweatshirt still manages to pull off a richly rewarding feel with the cerebral style of production because it feels personal and laidback, and he works towards achieving this dense balance of wordsmith lyricism and minimalist instrumentals by leaning into a hypnotic delivery, rather than simply acting as a purveyor of clear tone.

Pictured: Earl Sweatshirt in a recent promotional photoshoot for ‘SICK’ (2021) (Photo Credit: Ryosuke Tanzawa)

That’s all that I currently have lined up for you today, and thank you very much for taking the time to look at an interesting piece of new art with me today. I’ll be back tomorrow to bring some music from 2021 back to your attention, and it comes from a London-born singer-songwriter, DJ, radio presenter, model and actress who has run a popular monthly night called ‘Soul Box’ in East London with fashion photographer Dean Chalkley and the British DJ Eddie Piller, who is the founder of Acid Jazz Records.

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