Today’s Track: Gorillaz (feat. Jelani Blackman & Barrington Levy) – “Meanwhile”

October 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Damon Albarn with Murdoc recording ‘Momentary Bliss’ in Kong Studios (2020) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and you’ve tuned in to One Track At A Time, where it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It is quite unusual that I would cover such a big band as Gorillaz, and especially on a Monday instead of a weekend day where there would typically be more eyes and exposure to the site, but I hate to admit that I am fairly late to the party on this release already. ‘Meanwhile’ comes from Gorillaz – the beloved and eccentric project of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett, which was listed as the world’s “Most Successful Virtual Band” in 2010’s Guiness Book Of World Records, and the duo also scooped up the award for ‘Best British Group’ at the BRIT’s in 2018. It has long become a vehicle for Albarn to experiment freely and make some exciting collaborations happen, and it has sold over 25 million records globally. The ‘Meanwhile’ EP was released with no prior announcement on August 26th, a new three track release that includes new tracks featuring Barrington Levy and Jelani Blackman on the title track, as well as additional guest spots from AJ Tracey and Alicai Harley on the other two tracks. Together, these three tracks are a homage to carnivals and growing up in West London – and they were all debuted during a live concert performance at London’s O2 Arena earlier in August, which was free to attend for NHS workers and their selected family members and it featured cameos from De La Soul’s Posdunos, Robert Smith of The Cure and Peter Hook of New Order. To say the animated animals behind Gorillaz have been in hibernation would be far from true, since the suprise EP follows up the release of the ‘Gorillaz Almanac’ last year, a graphic book documenting Gorillaz’ 20-year history as a project. Last year, there was also the release of ‘Song Machine: Season One, Strange Timez’ that paired quirky collaborations with new music videos and staggered single releases, which allowed Albarn to explore collaborations with artists like Slowthai, St. Vincent, JPEGMafia, Chai, Elton John & Schoolboy Q. Give ‘Meanwhile’ a listen below.

The titular track of the recent EP release includes featured spots from Barrington Levy and Jelani Blackman, and has been pitched, in the accompanying press notes, as a tribute to the cultural historical event of The Notting Hill carnival, which would have taken place in late August alongside the record’s release, but it was cancelled again due to the ongoing ripple effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. 2-D, the animated frontman, added, “Meanwhile Gardens are just round the corner from Memory Lane. If you get to Crawley you’ve gone too far”, to the document. The most noticeable element of ‘Meanwhile’ is how the tune plays with a nostalgic Grime element, with some smoky Hip-Hop vocals from Blackman during the opening verses that lay into the traditions and significance of the event in his life, with lyrics like “Play street with the street I played” and “See when the sound system break/We make the system shake” that reminisce over the fun of the carnivals and the cultural diversity that it celebrates. The chorus is an expansion of these ideas, with lyrics like “I love Carnival bass, ya don’t feel the same, That’s cool, don’t get in my way” that feels a little catchier, but it still feels grounded within the rumbling Grime-style instrumental beats. The second half of the tune, where Albarn and Levy enter the fray, similarly sings of longing for another live event disrupted by the pandemic and the rich heritage of the event, while exploring memory with a more call-and-response style of structure. These different pieces, including the first-hand Brit-Rap sequences from Blackman and the bittersweet tones of Albarn & Levy’s sections, are all held together cohesively by the interweaving Synth patterns that twinkle along to the stoned backing beats and the dream-like aesthetics of the overall package. This probably doesn’t feel like the most inventive lyricism that we have ever heard from Gorillaz before, but it is a charming and coherent celebration of Carnivals and their meaning of purpose, both to an intimate and broader perspective. The instrumentation feels bold and vibrant too, while the sound swoops in for a clear Grime element but never gets too harsh or abrasive for a casual audience group to find too disorienting, and so Gorillaz continues to feel like an exciting project due to the well-produced graphics and fun feature spots. An engaging reminder that Notting Hill is more than just a film.

Pictured: 2-D (Vocals), Murdoc (Drums), Noddle (Guitar) & Russell Hobbs (Percussion) (2017) (via PR)

We have covered a few of Gorillaz’ tunes before, including the launch track of the ‘Song Machine’ series, which featured Slowthai and Slaves. You can find out what I thought of ‘Momentary Bliss’ for an escape here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/11/22/todays-track-gorillaz-on-melancholy-hill/. Alternatively, you can read up on their 2010 classic ‘On Melancholy Hill’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/11/22/todays-track-gorillaz-on-melancholy-hill/

Pictured: Gorillaz with Slowthai in a press shoot for ‘Momentary Bliss’ (2019) (Photo via NME.com)

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me on the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at a laidback single from a London-based Psychedelic Jazz quintet who have just released their fourth studio album over the past weekend on Fire Records. The band are female-fronted and the one of their members was previously a member of Fanfarlo. The drummer’s production credits also include Bat For Lashes and Gruff Rhys’ “Neon Neon” project. Their style has been oft-compared to Stereolab.

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Scuzz Sundays: The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – “False Pretense”

October 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Ronnie Winter (Lead Vocals/Acoustic Guitar), Joey Westwood (Bass Guitar), Josh Burke (Lead Guitar), Daniel Reshnick (Synths) and John Espy (Drums) (Date n/a) (Photo via HMMagazine.com)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and you’ve visited the site in time for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, our weekly look back at the Pop-Punk relics that were all released between the late-1990’s and the mid-2000’s to see how they live up to their potential in the present day, because its always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘False Pretense’ marks the debuting appearance on the blog from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, a mid-00’s Post-Hardcore 6-piece who joined the wave of ‘Emo’ Pop/Rock bands including Fall Out Boy and The All-American Rejects from the later stages of my early childhood Grunge phase, and they simply got their bizzare name from voting for random words that each member stuck onto a wall between themselves. They were competent enough, however, and the band have since gone on to release five full-length studio albums together since meeting in an AP Music Theory class in 2001. Their 2006 debut, ‘Don’t You Fake It’, is probably their best known since it was eventually certified as Platinum by the RIAA in 2006 for exceeding over 500,000 copies in sales. They were supporting bands like 30 Seconds To Mars, Amber Pacific and A Static Lullaby in their time, and they have impressively continued to stick around since their appearances at multiple festivals like Soundwave Festival and going on acoustic tours to keep them sounding fresh with new twists. They last released the ‘Emergency’ EP containing two previously unreleased singles. ‘False Pretense’ was used in the 2008 action movie ‘Never Back Down’ – directed by Jeff Wadlow and starring Amber Heard. Let’s remember it below.

Despite garnering mixed reviews from critics, ‘Don’t You Fake It’ reached the #25 spot on the Billboard 200 in the US, and it also spawned two other successful singles: ‘Your Guardian Angel’ and ‘Face Down’, and the band promoted the release with a set at the Bamboozle Festival in 2018. The band also released a remastered edition of the LP in 2014 which includes ‘Disconnected’ and ‘The Grimm Goodbye’, two rare cuts found only on the Deluxe edition of the original release. If you’ve ever been fond of bands like The All American Rejects or OPM, ‘False Pretense’ will find you in the mosh pit of similar territory, with some frivolous Pop-Punk guitar riffs and some Rapcore explorations. There’s also an energetic Baroque influence that harkens back to very early Panic! At The Disco material, and so their sound really feels like a mish-mash of their other contemporary acts in some respects. The lyrics are very straightforward too, with lyrics like “The world’s got a funny way of turning round on you/When a friend tries to stab you right in the face” and “You tried but you were caught red handed/Are you happy with your role?” dealing with spite and betrayal in a very easily consumable way, while vocalist Ronnie Winter chants hooks like “False pretense, you’ll hurt again” and “Don’t sweat it/Set a false pretense” in the chorus to hammer his point home about a close friend turning their back on him. While the band don’t have a great amount of originality or innovation to them, it is a broadly well-meaning and acceptable crossover between Pop, Rap and Punk elements, with different parts of other bands – like the more Grunge-oriented chorus that nods towards Linkin Park – thrown in the cauldron together for good measure. The lyrics are a little bland, but there’s nothing inherently poor about them since they suit the end to meet the needs decently enough and don’t head towards any tangents, so the record feels tight and coherent. It never does much to surprise you in terms of instrumentation, but, once again, the Pop-Punk guitar riffs are riotous and have enough of a harsh edge to craft an instantly recognizable blueprint. The drums are competent too, but they also lack memorability. Overall, it feels pretty uninspired and it doesn’t stand out a great deal, however, what we do get here is solid enough to make a little splash. An unoriginal effort that fails to establish a USP, but it is inoffensive and made with efficient ability.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Don’t You Fake It’ (LP) (Released on July 18th, 2006) (via Virgin Records)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another roughly 24 hour period of the weekend! Thank you for your support with the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to kick off the new week with some recent-ish material from a surprisingly big name for a Monday! It comes from an eclectic gang of animated animals who were founded by Blur’s frontman in the early 2000’s and they have been cited as the “Most Successful Virtual Band” in the world by the Guiness Book Of World Records in 2010. They have sold over 25 million records globally – and won ‘Best British Group’ at the 2018 BRIT’s.

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New Album Release Fridays: Remi Wolf – “Quiet On Set”

October 15, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Juno’ (LP) (Released on October 15th, 2021) (via Island Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and you are joining me for another daily track on the blog, which is the platform for my mission of writing up about a different piece of music every day! We’ve reached the third Friday of October, and the competition is heating up in time for the end-of year lists that will be rolling in by various music publications and YouTube channels shortly. This week – new albums from the likes of London-based, Art Pop-driven Psychedelic Jazz quintet Vanishing Twin, Swedish Electronic Pop producer and blog alumni Sir Was, Cumbria-born Wild Beasts multi-instrumentalist Hayden Thorpe, Billie Eilish’s beloved brother FINNEAS and retro international DJ Purple Disco Machine are all vying for a place on said lists. My pick for this week – however – is possibly the most vibrant one of the pack, and it comes from the California-born Alternative R&B and Synth-Funk singer Remi Wolf, who appeared as a contestant on ‘American Idol’ in 2014 and completed her studies at USC Thornton School Of Music in 2018. Earlier in the year, she made an appearance on a major US talk show – ‘The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon’ – to perform a medley of her hits. The follow-up to 2019’s self-released ‘You’re A Dog’ EP and 2020’s ‘I’m Allergic To Dogs’ major label debut EP, ‘Juno’ continues Wolf’s running trend of pooch titles since it was named after her adorable pet dog. The album was announced with two singles, including a catchy Pop number titled after a phrase that your favourite actress – mine are Kathryn Newton and Natalia Dyer – might mutter while shooting on location if they weren’t such sweet people. Be ‘Quiet On Set’ below.

Telling us about her debut full-length LP, Wolf states, “Every song on this record is a vivid snapshot into what was going on in my life and mindset the day I wrote each one”, adding, “The album is named ‘Juno’ after my beautiful dog I adopted during lockdown. He ended up being in every single writing session for this album and I consider him my partner, witness and support in the making of this record”, to her press release while explaining how Juno was her true companion when mastering her material.’Quiet On Set’ has a 00’s sound that reminds me of R. Kelly and Usher in tone, and her vocals feel very quippy, with one-liner lyrics like “I’ve been stealing Corvettes, stunting” and “Eating my ass like the human centipede” that have a playful Hip-Hop delivery on top of a Pop-oriented drum groove and some funk-oriented guitar licks that form a smooth, polished bassline. The lyrics veer strongly into over-the-top territory, providing a quirky and comedic dramatization of Wolf’s issues with ADHD and overworking, themes that my otherwise feel bleak or mundane. Wolf, however, uses lyrics like “I ain’t leaving my bed/The work be killing me dead” to spin the typical emotions into something more bouncy and quirky, with a hilarious refrain of “I don’t want to be a debbie downer” being played out right across the middle of the track. The overall package feels marvelously Beck-like and it reminds me of his 90’s LP, ‘Hollywood Freaks’ in its muddled pastiche of commercial Pop-Funk music. Pitch-shifted narration ends the track, where Wolf goes into a bizzare tangent reminagining herself as a baby, while earlier lyrics like “Wait, there ain’t no steeze if there ain’t no grease/Unless you order that sugarfish sushi” feel directly taken out of Beck’s late-90’s playbook by combining strange and obscure hooks with a false rhyme delivery. Overall, ‘Quiet On Set’ was a fun tune that makes me imagine what may happen if Beck and Brockhampton had a love child together, with Wolf displaying a frivolous personality while discussing the ruminations of her mental health. Some of these retro, Chiptune-like Synth melodies and unique lyricism could come across as irritable to some, but I feel that she would definitely appeal quite well to children and teenagers if she went a little bit easier on the bad language. She probably doesn’t want to target this mass audience, however, and that’s a really good thing because it allows her peculiar lyric elements and her throwback Synth Funk sounds to resonate without any restriction. Overall, this is mental health stigma represented in a fun way.

Pictured: Remi Wolf at a LA Drive-In Benefit Gig (2021) (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images/TNS)

On that note, that’s all I’ve got time for today. Thank you for heading to the blog for your daily fix today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to rave on about some brand new music from a UK electronic house producer who I honestly think is one of the most underrated musicians in the whole of history. I’ll be thrilled to present my post about the technological wizard, who is pretty prehistoric in his fashion and approach. Last year, he collaborated on a tune with Bonobo to signal the arrival of the ‘Outlier’ label. He’s also known for the launch of the Nice Age cross-platform label in 2014. The first release was a collaboration with gifted Aussie DJ and Apple Music 1 host, Anna Lunoe.

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Way Back Wednesdays: The Runaways – “Black Leather”

October 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘And Now… The Runaways’ (LP) (Released in 1978) (via Cherry Red Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and its time for me to drop a written ‘Cherry Bomb’ into your line of sight for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It is a pity that an all-female Punk rock band are still a bit of a novelty in 2021. There are a couple – such as Dream Wife, Shonen Knife and Sleater-Kinney – but The Runaways were widely considered to be the first group of gals to really do it when they formed in 1976, and, despite only being around as a band for a few years together, became an international sensation in territories like Japan, where ‘Cherry Bomb’ was a particular smash hit. Their time came to an end with the release of ‘And Now… The Runaways’ in 1978, which was their first and only album without Vicki Blue as their bassist, who left the project. The record seemed to get a rather contentious response from their fans, as the LP went through a period of ‘developmental hell’ where they brought a producer, John Alcock, on board for the first time, who reportedly tried to phase Joan Jett out of proceedings a little and he recruited Laurie McAllister as a new bassist shortly after the record was released to the public. The record also has a few cover songs instead of original tracks, such as ‘Black Leather’, a track originally written and performed by The Sex Pistols in 1980. However, as time wore on, the record earned a cult following because it served as a great introduction to The Runaways for a new generation of fans and it also exhibited a harder, more diverse variety of sounds than we heard The Runaways explore before. Let’s spin the highlight ‘Black Leather’ below.

‘And Now.. The Runaways’ received a remastered release by fan favourite revivalists Cherry Red Records a few years ago, and most of the album’s bass parts were actually played by Lita Ford. For your information, a coming-of-age biopic movie about The Runaways – titled after the band – was released in 2010, which starred Kristen Stewart as Cherie Currie, who actually played the role to perfection. It was directed by Italian-Canadian filmmaker Floria Sigismondi in her feature-length debut, and it also starred the likes of Dakota Fanning and Michael Shannon, and it earned a worldwide gross of over $4.6 million. The 5-piece loved their black leather fashion, and their take on The Sex Pistols lesser-known 1980 original was a feisty ode to their rebellious philosophy. The guitar melodies come thick and fast, while lyrics like “Well, he’s all geared up, walking down the street/I can see the smile, dripping down his sleeve” and “It’s late at night, and I’m all alone/I can hear the boots getting hear her home” flirt with Slasher horror movie tropes and reveals some more maturity for The Runaways, who previously sang about leaving their parents behind or misbehaving at school quite regularly in earlier releases. It definitely sounds like they were running away from something or someone, however, and you can see what I’ve done there. The overall instrumentation is a fairly good combination of pre-established Grunge and of-the-time underground Punk sounds, with some more catchy Pop-oriented hooks and rhythmic sequences in the chorus, where lines like “He’s clawing at the door/I can’t take it anymore” stick out a little from the pack on paper. The vocals feel raw and nicely unpolished, while the rapid fire drums and guitar combo has a rough edge to it. The vocals also sound a little jagged and disjointed in the mix however, and I think it’s because they simply feel a little disorienting in how it flows with the rest of the mixture, as opposed to it being a bad vocal performance on its own. I don’t think ‘Black Leather’ is their strongest, however, but it makes a good pick for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ because it feels underrated and less obvious or over-played than other options from their discography. The music had not changed as much as some older fans seemed to think at the time, but it simply sounds heavier and less polished. All in all – it was a decent and more adult-oriented evolution for the group despite its flaws.

Pictured: Joan Jett (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals), Sandy West (Drums/Percussion), Micki Steele (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Lita Ford (Lead Guitar/Acoustic Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Cherrie Curie (Tambourine/Snare Drum) in LA (1976) (Photo by Bob Gruen)

Thank you for checking out my latest post and thank you for your continued support for my work. I’ll be back with a new episode of my ‘The Subculture Sessions’ podcast that you can stream on Spotify, and I’ll have another new daily post on the blog as usual. I’ll be introducing you to one of my favourite recent discoveries, who I heard on a recent episode of ‘The New Music Fix’ hosted by John Ravenscroft. They are a new London-based electronic duo of multi-instrumentalists who have been in the studio with Skrillex and Park Hye Jin – and they’ve worked in A&R for Silver Bear Recordings.

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Today’s Track: Caribou – “You Can Do It”

October 11, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Dan Snaith (aka Caribou) at a mural to accompany the ‘Suddenly’ press kit (2020) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to fulfill my everyday challenge of delivering another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of new music every day! As a PhD degree holder in Mathematics from Imperial College London and as the son and brother of a pair of Mathematicians in his family, the 43-year-old Canadian-born Experimental Electronic Dance music producer Dan Snaith (Primarily known for his main alias of Caribou) has always been known for his very complex patterns and layered Synth work in his compositions across notable releases like 2010’s ‘Sun’ and 2001’s ‘Breaking My Heart’, which landed a spot on Pitchfork’s list of ‘The 50 Best IDM Albums Of All-Time’ in 2017. His latest LP – 2020’s ‘Suddenly’ – earned similar praise from different publications and my humble little blog that your eyes are focusing on right now, earning a spot on my list of the ‘Top 25 Best Albums Of 2020’ late last year. The associated tour for the record, however, was originally set to take place in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic reared it’s ugly head into our lives. Snaith’s world tour was postponed again for 2021, before it was later to be indefinitely shelved. Now, the meticulous craftsman has announced that he will indeed be hitting the road in the UK this month and the US in early 2022, and ‘You Can Do It’ is a new single that avid Caribou fans will be hearing across headline festival sets and solo arena shows from Snaith over the course of the next year, as a bonus treat to coincide with the cheerful announcement that was made by Snaith a handful of weeks ago. Snaith has also released music as Manitoba and Daphni, and he has been working with Shynola’s Richard Kenworthy for the official music video that sees adorable pooches catching some frisbees to the beat of Snaith’s mastery. Be reminded that ‘You Can Do It’ below.

Dan Snaith gave a shout out to Migle / Kennel UPE in the description for the music video for ‘You Can Do It’ on YouTube, and the beloved IDM producer made his return to touring with a performance at London’s All Points East festival in late August and he premiered the new track during his set at Green Man Festival over the weekend prior. You can catch Snaith playing some shows in Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester and a few more locations in the UK later this month, and he’ll be hitting sites in Glasgow, Bristol and Brighton in January 2022, before touring in the US, Canada and Europe across the new year. ‘You Can Do It’ will likely not suprise you if you are familiar with Snaith’s work already, but this is still classic Caribou at his finest. The sparkling lyric of ‘You Can Do It’ is layered over and over again to a brain-dancing degree, before a slowed down ‘Do It’ sequence takes a decent precedence over the repetition, with the continuous vocals becoming more garbled and warped as the literal distillation of the hook continues along. The warm and 90’s-leaning instrumentation makes up for the lack of variety in the songwriting for the diverse array of moods that it creates alone, however, and the rippling sentiments of the echoed vocals are spread across the coherent duration of the tune with a signature heartfelt sensibility and gets packed into the euphoric sound of a festival-ready dance hit. The energetic delivery of the Synth arrangements whip up a tone that feels celebratory and jubilant, while the sound strikes a fairly similar style to 2020’s ‘Suddenly’ where the tempo changes feel drastic, but they feel light-hearted and boundless in flow. Overall, while the sugar-colored theme lacks a little inspiration, the production is faultless and the warmly lit mood sounds appealing to a diverse group of audiences. He is ace – is our Dan Snaith.

Pictured: Dan Snaith in a PR photoshoot for a ‘Stereogum’ Q&A interview (2014) (Photo via PR)

Dan Snaith is a familiar face to us on the blog, and so his music has been covered a few times on the site before. His ‘Suddenly’ single landed a place on Pitchfork’s list of ‘The 30 Best Electronic Music Releases Of 2020’, and made an appearance on the blog here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/28/todays-track-caribou-never-come-back/. You can also read my thoughts on ‘You & I’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/09/todays-track-caribou-you-i/, and check out his initial comeback track ‘Home’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/28/todays-track-caribou-home/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Suddenly’ (LP) (Released on February 28th, 2020) (via Merge Records)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another day! Thank you for checking out my latest blog post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at some brand new music from an Essex-born Neo-Soul singer-songwriter who grew up playing the Celtic Harp – and she attended the Purcell School For Young Musicians with Mica Levi.

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Scuzz Sundays: Priestess – “Lay Down”

October 10, 2021 — Leave a comment

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to please the ancient gods of Rock with another ‘Scuzz Sundays’ post on the blog, where the revisit the Pop-Punk productions of the past, as it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! It is a busy day of work and visiting family for this aspiring music writer today, and so I’m not going to keep you too long. The long and short of the matter is that ‘Lay Down’ – this week’s pick – was the leading single taken from the debut album of the Canadian Post-Grunge meets Stoner Rock quartet Priestess, which was titled ‘Hello Master’ and was issued by RCA Records in 2005. The project started out as a dedicated “retro rock” project that emulated 70’s classic rock bands like Black Sabbath and AC/DC, before the band jumped into the unfamiliar surroundings of the recording studio with producer Gus Van Go (Arkells, Michael Rault) for their first full-length effort. Luckily for them, it spawned a few successful singles and it received generally positive reviews from critics before the more daring follow-up – ‘Prior To The Fire’ – emerged in 2009 and was disliked by their label for its edgy lyricism and more experimental content. The band are currently on an indefinite hiatus, but 2005’s ‘Lay Down’ is their best known single, and it got a music video directed by Wendy Morgan. Give it a spin down below.

Priestess saw relatively little chart success aside from 2006’s ‘Talk To Her’, which peaked at #33 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, but the profile of the band was raised significantly when ‘Lay Down’ was prominently featured on ‘Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock’ on past gaming platforms, a business-savvy move which Priestess see as a proud achievement, stating in interviews that consumption of the media format amongst young people serves as a great introduction to their classic rock influences and the genre as a whole. ‘Lay Down’ is one of their tunes that notably deals with violent lyrics and mature themes, with frontman Mikey Heppner singing about a mourner – at graveside – who is trying to make the dead corpse peacefully rest in their coffin as our protagonist slowly gets to grips with the loss that has occurred and how it has affected their mental wellbeing. The guitar riffs are punchy, but not overbearingly ferocious, with Heppner singing the sorrowful lyrics over the top of some thumping Drum beats and some soaring guitar chords, although there’s notably no electronic interference in play here either. The lyrics deal with grief and, in a way, love with a familiar ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll edge’ that sees a mid-tempo guitar solo and fetching bass guitar riffs controlling the tempo. Overall, I felt this was a solid three and a half style sort of effort by Priestess. I was ultimately listening late at night on Saturday and I had my headphones sinked into my ears, and it still tested pretty well. The production is fairly average because the vocals sound pretty raw and the instrumentation does not have a great amount of variety to it, but the rhythms are simply catchy and memorable enough for me to remember immediately after hearing the band play. The vocals have a fairly straightforward and typical style for the 70’s influences of the band, but they never feel outdated beyond the style in any way. The lyrics themselves are a little bleak, but the solid guitar riffs drive the beat forward to a good melodic style where it comfortably gallops along the track’s tight duration with a solid flow. On the whole, there’s nothing that feels drastically new or different to their contemporaries here, but the lack of auto-tune is welcome and the band don’t write lyrics about sleazy women or being a rebel in a stereotypical sense for the time and so they manage to stand out from their peers. An engaging slice of vintage Rock.

Pictured: Mikey Heppner (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar), Dan Watchorn (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Mike Dyball (Bass Guitar) and Vince Nudo (Drums/Percussion) (2009) (Photo via Priestess.ca/story)

That’s all for now! I hope that you have a pleasant weekend, and please join be back here again tomorrow for an in-depth listen to some new music from a gifted Canadian electronic music producer who landed a spot on my ‘Best Albums Of 2020’ list with his latest LP release ‘Suddenly’. He is signed to Merge Records and he will be touring the US and Europe next year. He is probably best known for the 2010 recording ‘Sun’.

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Today’s Track: Metronomy (feat. Biig Piig) – “405”

October 9, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Joseph Mount (Lead Vocals/Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar), Oscar Cash (Saxophone/Backing Vocals), Anna Prior (Drums/Occasional Backing Vocals), Olugbenja Adelekan (Bass Guitar/Occasional Vocals) and Michael Lovett (Keyboards/Guitars/Percussion) (in 2019) (Photo by Gregoire Alexandre)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m wishing you a very enjoyable weekend along with the uploading of yet another daily track of the day, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘405’ comes to your ears from the established Electronic Pop 5-piece band Metronomy, who have been quite prolific on the UK’s indie circuit since they were founded in 1999 by frontman Joseph Mount, merging Indie Rock influences with 80’s Pop sounds and modern Electronic soundscapes which have been grounded and progressive in their adaptations of both vocal and ambient material. The band have remixed a staggering line-up of other artists including Lady GaGa, Klaxons, Franz Ferdinand and Goldfrapp, and their most recent LP release was ‘Metronomy Forever’ in 2019, which was well-received by critics. The lead single, ‘Salted Caramel Ice Cream’ earned a rave review on this very blog too, and I’ve embedded the music video of that track to the end of this post because it’s an exceptionally amusing one. After reminding fans a few weeks ago that “there’s normally a new Metronomy album every two to three years” on social media, the quintet quietly released the ‘Posse: Volume 1’ EP that finds Mount’s misfits tinkering around with guest collaborations from Spill Tab, Sorry, Brian Nasty, Folly Group and Pinty. ‘405’ has made the daytime A-list over on BBC Radio 6 Music, and it features the seductive vocal talents of Irish producer/singer-songwriter Biig Piig (aka West London’s Jess Smith), who has been regularly featured on BBC Radio 1 and used to always pop up on focus group playlists that used to be sent to me from the SRA for student radio purposes, and so it’s always felt like she’s just small steps away from breaking into more mainstream territory for a very small sum of years now. Take their collaboration, ‘405’, for a spin with me below.

On Twitter, Jospeh Mount posted, “I made the EP after finishing the new Metronomy album, please consume it in the same spirit it was made; discover some new artists and share the music with your friends”, on Metronomy’s account. Meanwhile, Jess Smith has also spoken about ‘405’, penning, “Joe sent over the Piano instrumental and it was so beautiful and brought back so many memories. I feel like when you hear a piece of music that does that, you know it’s special. My melodies and lyrics over it came out really easily and it just felt really nostalgic”, in a press statement of her own. On ‘405’, Smith sings about frantically searching for love in different relationships with lyrics like “Cuz’ I ran off in the wrong direction/Looking for love when you were stood right there/Under my nose” and soon realizes that a true partner was spending time with her all along, singing lyrics like “You smiled in the mirror with those bright eyes/And you froze time, you’re an old soul” with a sweet and soulful tone during the verses. The delivery feels calm and assured, but the self-realization comes through with a sense of eerie contentment in her voice, and lyrics like “You taste like Vanilla, and your hand is soft” that feel romantic and quite dream-like, with an 80’s-leaning Synth Pop instrumental that reminds me of Eurythmics and La Roux’s androgynous style, and these vocals evoke her confused emotions nicely because they add a soft sense of Jazz and R&B to the gently pulsating Synth beats. The vocal harmonies from Smith add a loose, ambient mood to the silky Synth lines, with a few hints of a more shy and seductive tone that adds a little more emotional depth to the otherwise straightforward, if solid, songwriting. On the whole, ‘405’ is a great collaboration as it marries the enchanting vocal tones of Biig Piig and the 00’s Electronica roots of Metronomy together with a strong sense of cohesion and, while the Synth pads feel a little repetitive by the end, there’s a nice balance of melancholy and comfort in the mixture to give the lightly melodic sounds more atmosphere. One for the drive home.

Pictured: Biig Piig (Jess Smith) in a Wonderland Magazine photoshoot (2018) (Photo by Elliot Wilcox)

When you write up about a different piece of music every day, you end up covering a few releases from most of the UK’s most prolific emerging artists, including Biig Piig and Metronomy. You can still check out my thoughts on Metronomy’s ‘Salted Caramel Ice Cream’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/08/26/todays-track-metronomy-salted-caramel-ice-cream/ and their instrumental masterpiece ‘Miracle Rooftop’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/11/todays-track-metronomy-miracle-rooftop/. As for Biig Piig, you can hear more of her soothing voice in ‘Roses & Gold’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/14/todays-track-biig-piig-roses-and-gold/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Metronomy Forever’ (LP) (Released on September 13, 2019) (via Because Music)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your continued support for the blog and for streaming the first episode of my new podcast – ‘The Subculture Sessions’ – if you got the memo. I’ll be back tomorrow for another new entry in our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature, as we take aim at a Canadian Hard Rock band who have yet to been featured in our library before. They were formed from the ashes of the 00’s band The Dropouts.

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Today’s Track: Amyl & The Sniffers – “Guided By Angels”

October 7, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Comfort To Me’ (LP) (Released on September 10th, 2021) (via Rough Trade Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and, as you’ve probably figured out by now, it is my time to deliver yet another daily track on the blog to your eye line, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Amyl & The Sniffers are an Australian Pub Rock group who aren’t necessarily changing the face of Rock ‘N’ Roll, but they are certainly sticking out a middle finger to the watered down imitations of that genre in the current mainstream Pop/Rock market. Led by vocalist/songwriter Amy Taylor – the band also consists of drummer Bryce Wilson, bassist Fergus Romer and rhythm guitarist Dec Martens – and they have been gaining popularity with Garage Rock and Punk Rock fans since the release of their self-titled debut studio album in 2019, which scooped up the ‘Best Rock Album’ award at the ARIA Music Awards of that year. You might have also heard Amy Taylor on a track – ‘Nudge’ – from Sleaford Mods’ latest album ‘Spare Ribs’ that was released back in January of this year. More commercial and critical success has followed with ‘Comfort To Me’, the band’s follow-up album, which was released on September 10th on ATO Records and Rough Trade Records. It was written while the band were quarantined together during the Covid-19 pandemic and the 13-song track listing was lyrically inspired by Taylor’s Hip-Hop heroes and the countless DIY Post-Punk bands that have existed throughout the decades. It feels like a love letter to old-school Hard Rock, Post Hardcore and Psych-Rock bands, as they build a reputation of becoming Australia’s leading export since AC/DC. Check out ‘Guided By Angels’ below.

Offering her personal insight on Amyl & The Sniffers’ latest album ‘Comfort To Me’, frontwoman Amy Taylor says “The nihilistic, live in the moment, positivity and panel beater rock-meets-shed show punk was still there, but it was better” when telling Stereogum about the pandemic-era production process of the group by churning out some eccentric rhythms for exhilarating new material in the middle of global turmoil, she added, “The whole thing was less spontaneous and more darkly considered”, making it seem evident that recent events forced the 4-piece to really sit and take their time with the new output and focus more on their craft due to the pandemic. It never really sounds like a ‘Quarantine’ themed record, however, and certainly not so on ‘Guided By Angels’, a very propulsive old-school Punk anthem with a ‘No Frills’ personality. Driven by some thunderous guitar riffs and cathartic Drum sections, Taylor chants lyrics like “It’s my currency/I spend, protect my energy, currency” and “I never hold on/To the misery or grief” to a delicately stilted delivery, and there’s certainly a distinct Post-Punk edge to the instrumentation. Some usage of the Wammy Bar on the bass guitar creeps into the late stretch towards the end to add a wonky feel to the rhythms, and the rhythm guitar riffs have a cathartic, amped-up style that sets all of the band’s usual blueprints of a retro Punk Rock aesthetic and an explosive Pub Rock revivalist notion into place, but they seem to be structured a little differently than before because, although Taylor still seems possessed by a familiar sense of whining or longing in her voice, it is instead making a point of self-realization and refining her songwriting more neatly in comparison to the band’s previous releases in the form of LP’s and EP’s. For example, lyrical sequences like “Good energy and bad energy/I’ve got plenty of energy/It’s my currency” implies the idea that all sorts of contrasting emotions, and sometimes undescribed feelings, can all co-exist at once in her mental space. Overall, ‘Guided By Angels’ was a lot of fun as always by Amyl & The Sniffers, and the wise lyricism feels like a natural evolution of the chaotic lyricism the retro-leaning group have previously explored. Good, old-fashioned Punk.

Pictured: Amy Taylor (Lead Vocals/Chief Songwriter/Rhythm Guitar), Dec Martens (Lead Guitar), Fergus Romer (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Bryce Wilson (Drums) (2019) (Photo by Charles Engelken)

That’s it for now! Don’t forget to check out the first episode of my new podcast, ‘The Subculture Sessions’, on Spotify and thank you for your support with both projects. It is ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow and, this time, we’re browsing the details of a new album from a slightly lesser-known artist, which is the Indie Folk project of a Chicago-based songwriter who opened for Death Cab For Cutie on their summer tour in the US of 2019, and she performed at the Pitchfork Music Festival in 2019. She also collaborated with Yoni Wolf (from the Alternative Hip-Hop group WHY?) on ‘Siren 042’.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – “The Message”

October 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Message’ (LP) (Released in October, 1992) (via Sugar Hill Records)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and you have got your ears tuned in for yet another daily track on the blog, which suits me because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This is ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ where we revisit the seminal sounds of the past that have been influential for those of the present, and ‘The Message’ – released in 1982 by the New York 5-piece Hip-Hop band Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – certainly fits that bill. As noted in the lyrics, ‘The Message’ was initially written as a reaction to the New York City Transit Strike of 1980 as a more broad examination of inner-class poverty and social injustice. Early 80’s Hip-Hop music was typically characterized as being aimless and too Pop-oriented, but the success of ‘The Message’ was paramount for groups like Public Enemy and KRS-One, and it marked the turning point for Rap music to explore serious content and the Conscious Hip-Hop sub-genre would soon be developed in response by more credible Hip-Hop songwriters than those who were there before. ‘The Message’ went straight to the #8 spot on the UK Singles Chart and it reached #2 in New Zealand, as well as reaching #4 on the US Billboard Hot Black Singles Chart. This is easily one of the most recognizable Hip-Hop recordings of the 1980’s, but its popularity extends beyond popular culture as well. For example, it has been featured in some academic texts such as ‘The Norton Anthology Of African American Literature’, published by Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 1996. Give it a spin below.

Released as the third and final single from the album of the same name by Sugar Hill Records in 1982, ‘The Message’ was a launching ramp for the bragging and boasting of the earlier Hip-Hop sounds to gain more of a soul, and its widespread success led to the band getting inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007. Also, ‘The Message’ was selected by the Library Of Congress to be added to The National Recording Registry for its preservation in 2002. A driving force behind the social commentary of Hip-Hop’s most significant releases, ‘The Message’ lyrically boasts some unflinching observations of lower working class perils like “It’s like a Jungle sometimes/It makes me wonder how I keep from going under” in the hard-boiled chorus, and my favourite verse contains the sequence of “A child is born with no state of mind, Blind to the ways of mankind/God is smiling on you, but he’s frowning too/Because God only knows what you’ll go through” which has also been named as Q-Tip’s favourite rap verse of all time. That verse really steers the sound away from a braggadocio party anthem style and towards a more philosophical nature instead. The instrumentation takes its cues from the Psych-Funk of George Clinton’s bands like Funkadelic and Parliament. The groovy guitar licks and the staccato Synths changed the content of Hip-Hop music forever, and the backdrop is simply catchy. It really helps to make the track feel more memorable on the whole, and Melle Mel mocks the Hip-Hop culture of old by noting “But then you wind up dropping out of high school” after he lists the likes of pickpockets and smugglers as potential role models. Overall, ‘The Message’ had an undeniable ability in attracting those who would not typically listen to Hip-Hop as a genre and the importance of the songwriting deserves its recognition as a pioneer of Hip-Hop’s development, and the themes are all topped off by the end of the video where police stress towards black people becomes present, as the band get arrested for no discernible reason in a brutal end skit. ‘The Message’ not only made history in terms of it’s content, but it was a genuinely great Hip-Hop track.

Pictured: ‘Grandmaster Flash’ Joseph Saddler, ‘Keef Cowboy’ (Keith Wiggins), ‘Melle Mel’ Melvin Glover, ‘The Kidd Creole’ Danny Glover, ‘Scorpio’ Eddie Morris & Rahiem (Date n/a) (Photo via Getty Images)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest throwback post, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we divert our attention from the socially conscious Hip-Hop of the past to the Pub Rock revivalist sounds of the future, coming from a Melbourne 4-piece whose self-titled debut studio LP won “Best Rock Album” at the ARIA Awards of 2019.

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Today’s Track: Art D’Ecco – ‘Head Rush’

October 4, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘In Standard Definition’ (LP) (Released on April 23, 2021) (via Paper Bag Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and – you guessed it! – the time has arrived for me to get typing up on the blog for yet another daily track on the blog, because its always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Art D’Ecco – whose actual birth name has still not been unveiled to the public – is a Canadian Neo-Glam Art-Rocker whose music draws some common comparisons to David Bowie, The Cure and Sparks. After growing up in Victoria and working as a restaurant line chef through his teenage years, he turned to a creative life as a musician when he played the guitar in Jason Corbett’s band Speed To Kill. Fast forward to 2018 and, after producing his first solo LP with nothing but a Piano and an iPhone, he debuted his now-signature look of his colourful bob wig and his androgynous make-up in time for his follow-up LP, ‘Trespasser’, to arrive via Paper Bag Records. His most recent studio album – ‘In Standard Definition’ – was released on 23rd April on the same label and it marks the start of another ambitious chapter in his career. A concept album – Art’s latest record is an exploration of the familiar tropes of a celebrity-fixated society in today’s media industry, an examination of popular culture and its effect on our attitudes with a fresh angle, and it was created on a 50-year-old console through an analog format. Check out the single, ‘Head Rush’, below.

‘Head Rush’ was co-produced with fellow Vancouver-based indie rock musician Colin Stewart (Yukon Blonde, Kathryn Calder), and Art D’Ecco notes, “It’s a song about the head rush of our youth – nostalgia is a powerful drug, it distorts and reframes the past, often reconciling our memories into one place for our easy access and to better suit our current disposition or state of mind”, adding, “I wanted all the hallmarks of a classic Rock song – the kind of music that used to blast from the kitchen radio at the summer jobs I’d worked at as a teen”, to his comments. While others were pondering whether there is Life On Mars, a few of Bowie’s fans could have easily been out partying to ‘Head Rush’ between Ziggy’s album releases if it was being released back in the 70’s. The jazzy hand claps and the smoky backing vocals have a lush air of Queen to them, while the wistful Horn section explodes with an ascending guitar solo that feels Bolan-like in all of its glory. The blueprints of an effective Bowie hit from the 80’s are here too, with some layered harmonization of the vocals and the Synth-less guitar arrangements that feel quite simple and hassle-free in the core production standards. There’s also a small fragment of Glammed-Up Pop that harkens back to Roxy Music when the Saxophone riffs add some more joyful rejoice to the sound of the chorus. The lyrics do the job nicely too, with reminiscent lyrics like “So wild and so free, I’m right back where I wanna be” and “Hit and miss, I reminisce how we drank on the street” that play on the youthful energy that came from everybody knowing who you were on the streets of your town, with Art later proclaiming “All I want is the head rush” to the beat of some extravagant Horn samples and some rumbling Drum melodies. This is a very solid single, overall, with a clear theme and some interesting influences behind it. Although a little forgettable, it feels vibrant and colourful as the diverse instrumentation and the art direction complement the 70’s throwback style of the music, and the vocals are all delivered with a candy-floss shine that makes the sound feel old, and so Art fulfills his goals as the artist. A crowd-pleasing rush of glam.

Pictured: Art D’Ecco in a PR shoot for ‘In Standard Definition’ (2021) (Photo Credit: Mike Pepperdine)

That’s all for today! Thank you, as always, for your continued support for the blog, and I’ll be back for some more of the same tomorrow where, one week on from my assessment of the new solo LP from Marlowe’s Solemn Brigham, we’ll be looking at the new solo album from the leading man of another familiar band, Chicano Batman.

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