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Scuzz Sundays: Slipknot – “Duality”

October 3, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Corey Taylor (Lead Vocals), Mick Thomson (Lead Guitar), Shawn Crahan (Percussion/Art Director/Photographer), Craig Jones (Keyboard), Jim Root (Bass Guitar), Chris Fehn (Backing Vocals), Paul Gray (Backing Vocals), Joey Jordison (Drums/Mixing) & Sid Wilson (Turntables) (2019) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for us to listen to some quite un-church like music before we head to church for ‘Scuzz Sundays’, the part of the week where we revisit some of the ghosts of Pop-Punk and Nu-Metal’s past. This is Spooky Season – after all. One band from the late-90’s to mid-00’s who fits that bill is Slipknot, the Iowa-based Alternative Metal band fronted by Corey Taylor, who once appeared on an episode of BBC Two’s ‘QI’ on UK television and seemed like a likeable guy all-around, to be fair. Slipknot still seem to be immensely popular, scoring a UK number one album with ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ as recently as 2019. One of the most interesting albums to come from the crossover stars is ‘Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses’, a record that deals with “the healing process” of the band’s themes of decay and decapitation from the previous record. To meet these ends, Slipknot changed their style very discreetly by incorporating more traditional, melodic song structures as well as brooding guitar solo’s and a splattering of acoustic instrumentals. The album was a large success, despite the band’s initial unproductive struggles over the record, where Taylor was found drinking heavily to comfort some very personal issues. The record was praised by AllMusic for its “dedication to making it a Slipknot album” and Kerrang’s readers rated it as 31st in a poll of ‘The 50 Best Albums Of The 21st Century” taken in 2009. One of the best-received singles was ‘Duality’, which peaked at #5 on the US Rock Chart and Slipknot’s record label, Roadrunner Records, listed the music video for the single as the best one in their history in 2010. Refresh your mind below.

Slipknot have now found pretty staggering crossover success with combined sales of reportedly up to 30 million records globally, but these metrics didn’t always seem to be within their mask-wearing grasp. Until ‘Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses’ was issued in 2004, Slipknot’s future seemed bleak. Taylor’s battles with alcoholism worsened over the years, and the other members of Slipknot decided to work on a few side projects – like Stone Sour, Murderdolls and To My Surprise – but the band eventually decided to enlist Rick Rubin as the producer of their album and cracked down to work in the studio together, before releasing ‘Duality’ as the comeback single. ‘Duality’ felt like a volatile soft-reboot for Slipknot at the time, giving them a harsher edge and a more catchy sound, while appreciating the raw style of their prior work. The guitar riffs are sharp and disjointed enough without feeling clunky, and the Spoken Word style of the verses is quite intriguing since it gives refrains like “I have screamed until my veins collapsed/I’ve waited as my time’s elapsed” and “Tell me the reality is better than the dream/But I found out the hard way, nothing is what it seems” a vibe of toxicity and a feel of cinematic dark poetry that does stick out a little more compared to their contemporary peers of the era. Taylor uses a grumbling, dark croaking vocal delivery to complement the down-tuned, screeching guitar riffs and emphasize the horror atmosphere of the percussion. I think that it is easy to find their costumes and masks to take things a little too far for some audiences, but I don’t mind that aspect of their live performances and general visuals too much since it shows me they can simply be bothered to create a compelling visual companion piece to the art they create, and that is enough for me. On the whole, while I can’t say that I’ve ever really cared for Slipknot by a great amount, I really enjoyed my time with ‘Duality’, and not really in a ‘guilty pleasure’ way that plagues some releases. I felt there was plenty of genuinely well-crafted material here. The chorus was sharp and filled with some very punchy hooks that feel melodic enough, but fits the terrifying and gory imagery of Slipknot overall. There’s a couple of well-written lyrics here that match poetry with pain, and the extra layers of tension are paced decently, with the more subdued vocal style of the verses being counteracted with a more patented style later on with some solid guitar work that creates a surge of tense rhythms for the chorus. A spiked thumbs up!

  • Pictured: Slipknot in an official photoshoot for ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ (2019) (Photo via PR/NME.com)

As one of the more popular US heavy metal bands of our time, Slipknot have been worthy of a mention on ‘Scuzz Sundays’ before, albeit over a year and a half ago. Still, if you want more content, you can find out what I thought of ‘Before I Forget’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/23/scuzz-sundays-slipknot-before-i-forget/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Vol. 3 The Subliminal Verses’ (LP) (May 2004) (via Roadrunner Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your continued support regarding the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to kick off another week’s worth of daily music picks. Join me for an in-depth look at a British Columbia-born singer-songwriter who, after working as a restaurant line chef in his teens, turned to a life of music where he played with Jason Corbett in Speed To Kill. He is now known for his bob wig and androgynous make-up.

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Today’s Track: Tycho & Benjamin Gibbard – “Only Love”

October 2, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Tycho (Scott Hansen) & Benjamin Gibbard in a PR shoot for ‘Only Love’ (2021) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time to liven up your day with a clash between two titans on the blog, whilst reminding you that it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Today’s new selection marks the joint venture point between Ben Gibbard – the frontman of the Platinum-selling Alternative Rock group Death Cab For Cutie – and the nature-centric IDM producer Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) who you might also know as the graphical designer ISO50. As well as being known for his visual art, Hansen is known for using environmental sounds as a resource for his material, such as the sounds of weather footage that he blends with Ambient Electronica sounds and his Folk-led, downtempo guitar work. We last heard Gibbard on the hard-hitting mid-pandemic charity single ‘Life In Quarantine’ on the blog last summer, while we covered Tycho’s single ‘Outer Sunset’ – taken from his ‘Simulcast’ album of reworked mixes from 2019’s ‘Weather’ LP – back in early January on the blog. ‘Only Love’ is a new single that brings the two notable names in music together. It is interesting to note that it is also the first time that Gibbard has participated in a major electronic collaboration since his Platinum-certified work with The Postal Service more than a decade ago. ‘Only Love’ originally began its life as an instrumental track with a crucially missing vocal element, before Hansen decided to reach out to Gibbard as a fan of his work with an offer to produce a remix for Death Cab For Cutie’s 2016 track ‘The Ghosts Of Beverley Drive’, a trail of correspondence which has led to the two musicians crafting something in the studio together. Gibbard has also recalled in interviews that the lyrics and concept of ‘Only Love’ were influenced by a section of Naomi Klein’s book ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate’ which Gibbard read in 2004. Let’s hear their results below.

A peaceful protest tune with a calm tone, Hansen said in a press release, “Ben’s voice was a very inspiring element to work with from a production standpoint; I felt it really meshed well with the kinds of sounds and instrumentation I gravitate toward”, while Gibbard has also shown a labor of love for the link up in his own press notes, telling Rolling Stone about the literature influence, “When Scott sent me the music for ‘Only Love, it seemed perfect for this statement. Since reading Alexis’ words, I’ve carried them as a universal truth; that the only way we preserve the people, places, or things we care for is with love, not hatred” in his own words. When I first heard ‘Only Love’, I honestly felt that it sounded a lot like Miami Horror. The vocal harmonies are very radiant and 80’s-leaning, while the Synth arrangements are soothing and bright. There are some bubbling guitar riffs that add some more colour and Pop-oriented melodies to the proceedings, while the Drums explode with a somewhat psychedelic and progressive Folk flair. The lyrics are kept concise and tight, with Gibbard just promising “No voices of anger/No threshing fists” and “No last chances missed/No Savior to arrive” above the sparkling Synthwave beats and the Lo-Fi production that pings around in your head. There’s a delicate sense of longing to the vocals, while the repeating line of “Only love can save this place” continues to repeat amongst the mixture of mid-tempo arrangements. A vibe of cathartic and deeply humanist lyricism is present as usual from Gibbard’s performance, while the 80’s-inflicted Synth Pop style of Tycho’s production adds a simple, but timeless feeling to the proceedings. There isn’t a ton of variety to the songwriting here, but the different arrangements and the nostalgic feel of the overall production seems like enough to maintain your interest. It is unclear whether this is a one-off release or whether Hansen and Gibbard will come together for a project like an EP (As we have seen with short-form releases from combinations like Khraungbin & Leon Bridges and MNDSGN & Lionmilk over the last few years), but I would certainly enjoy hearing more ideas being explored by this team-up. Quite uplifting and human in character, ‘Only Love’ sounds like a worthy addition to the discography of two great musicians who have probably earned a spot in your own record collection, in some form and at some point, already. A solid listen.

  • Pictured: Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) at Greek Theatre, Los Angeles (in 2019) (Photo Credit: Jon Bauer)

As mentioned earlier, we have previously taken a look at some solo work from Benjamin Gibbard and the San Francisco-based composer Tycho. If you haven’t shaken off those face mask and hand sanitizer blues yet, you can still take things down a notch with my assessment of Gibbard’s ‘Life In Quarantine’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/25/todays-track-benjamin-gibbard-life-in-quarantine/. Or, for more of Tycho, plug your earphones in and listen to ‘Outer Sunset’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/01/09/todays-track-tycho-outer-sunset/

  • Pictured: Benjamin Gibbard recording ‘Life In Quarantine’ at home (2020) (Photo Credit: KEXP.org)

That’s all for now! Thank you lots for joining me on the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for something completely different in tone as we celebrate ‘Scuzz Sundays’ for yet another week. This week, we’re going back to the early-00’s discography of a very popular US heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa who had a number one album within the UK Albums Chart as recently as 2019. Their frontman, Corey Taylor, once appeared on an episode of BBC 2’s ‘QI’ as a panelist that was broadcast in 2016.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Kim Wilde – “Dancing In The Dark”

September 29, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Catch As Catch Can’ (LP) (Released on October 24th, 1983) (via RAK Records)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m reporting for my daily duties of typing up another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ has ticked around once again, and so we’re looking back at one of the seminal sounds of the past that has been influential for the present. When you think of Middlesex’s 80’s pop star Kim Wilde, your mind will probably call back to tunes like ‘Kids In America’, ‘Chequered Love’ and ‘Never Trust A Stranger’, and the other multitude of hits that she’s sold over 10 million albums and 20 million singles worth of. However, her third studio album, 1983’s ‘Catch As Catch Can’, marks more of an intriguing outlier in her discography. A key point of transition in her career, Wilde’s ‘Catch As Catch Can’ was regarded as probably her most experimental record to date, mixing up the dark-hued Synth Pop style of previous LP ‘Select’ with the more commercially-oriented Rock feel that has largely characterized her career. Unfortunately, the record was met with a reception of indifference at the time, having suffered from mixed reviews from critics, and it failed to set the cash registers alight very much, only reaching #90 in the UK Albums Charts and the singles had floundered in their chart appeal. However, in more recent decades, the record has garnered more of a ‘best kept secret’ air about it. Kim Wilde supported the record on a second European tour that helped the decline in sales a little bit, and it was finally re-released as a ‘Remastered’ edition by Cherry Red Records as a collectors item in 2009. Another very interesting fact about the record is that it was released just as the CD format was being introduced, and the LP was issued as a CD in Japan, with this release becoming a very sought-after and rare item among Wilde’s fans. These people have been known to fork over more than $100 to nab one of the imported CD copies. ‘Dancing In The Dark’ was the second single to be released from the record and preceded the concept-driven ‘House Of Salome’ ballad. It remains to be her final single to be published by RAK Records, and it reached #67 on the UK Singles Chart, so the single just about scraped the top 75. Give it a spin below.

‘Dancing In The Dark’ was written by Nicky Chinn and Paul Gurvitz, making it only the second track that she did not pen with her typical father and brother combo, and Chic’s Nile Rodgers created a remix of the track for an extended 12″ release. Although it made the top 30 in some European territories, Wilde was disappointed with the reviews and sales for the single and found herself to be unhappy with it, recounting in an interview, “No-one expected that ‘Dancing In The Dark’ would do so badly. Every Monday, I woke up in fear and asked my record company if the record had made the charts yet. They reacted coldly”, entitled ‘Wildelife’ in 2008. To my ears, the limited mainstream appeal is somewhat surprising because it sounds like a contemporary Synth-Pop chart hit of the slightly later 80’s. This has a strong tune, with a driving beat and some intense lyrics about a flirtatious encounter with a stranger on the dancefloor of a club, with lyrics like “I could hear his heartbeat/Pounding in the night” and “His soothing kiss/Was all I desired” to convey the themes with a George Michael-like hint of breathy and romantic tension in her voice. Wilde also goes for a swooping and punchy chorus, with the simple lines of “Sweet romancing/Something’s gonna start” and “We were dancing/Dancing in the dark” being complemented by a harmonic male backing vocal, with some flickering Synth tones and a rhythmic lead vocal from Wilde creating a catchy flow. The instrumentation is met with a cheerful Horn riff, some loud drums and danceable keyboard riffs that don’t sound out of place for the time. On the whole, I wouldn’t say this is a masterpiece. The lyrics are admittedly not very poetic and a little bland at points, and the synth instrumentals are not much more memorable. However, I think the reception of the time was a bit harsh. The more experimental direction of the album – as a body of work in its entirety – gave Wilde a chance to show what she could do beyond her pre-conceived notions. I enjoyed the Wham-esque vocals from Wilde on the track, and the beats are generally catchy. Its not Shakespeare, but it strikes me as something a bit underrated.

  • Pictured: Kim Wilde with Marty Wilde (Her Father) (in August 2020) (Photo via ExpressandStar.com)

Thank you for checking out the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at a brand new London-based R&B and Neo-Soul songwriter who specializes in “effortlessly blending the sounds of Congolese Rumba, Electronic, R&B and Alt-Pop with her perceptible lyricism” in approach. Her debut EP was self-released last Friday.

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Scuzz Sundays: Avril Lavigne – “When You’re Gone”

September 26, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Best Damn Thing’ (LP) (Released on April 11th, 2007) (via RCA Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up on the blog for yet another one of my daily posts, seeing that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Scuzz Sundays’ marks the end point of the week where we take an in-depth look back at some Pop-Punk anthems released between the late-90’s and the mid-00’s, and the Canadian vocalist Avril Lavigne was one of the most famous female role models of the era. Best known for the multi-platinum selling singles ‘Sk8erboi’ and ‘Girlfriend’ and her nickname of ‘Pop Punk Queen’ from the music publications of the time, Lavigne still holds the title of having the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian singer with her 2002 debut release, ‘Let Go’. She’s also dabbled in acting work, as she did voice work for 2006’s ‘Over The Hedge’ and she appeared in the comedy-drama film ‘Fast Food Nation’ that also opened in cinemas in 2006. ‘When You’re Gone’ was released as the second single from her third full-length album, ‘The Best Damn Thing’, which hit the shelves of Woolworths in 2007. This LP incorporated more elements of Post-Grunge into her recordings than before, and it has sold more than six million copies globally, topping some of the US Billboard charts along with reaching the top of the charts in twelve countries. ‘When You’re Gone’, as a single, peaked at #24 on the US Billboard 200 and it reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart. Refresh your mind below.

Lavigne wrote ‘When You’re Gone’ with Butch Walker (Panic! At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional) who also produced the track, and the subject matter was reportedly written about her marriage to Sum 41’s lead singer Deryck Whibley at the time and how she feels when the two of them are touring separately, but she has been quick to dispute this rumor during interviews with The Belfast Telegraph at the time. She also worked with the composer Rob Mathes to orchestrate the single. You may have noticed the genuine String section in the brief early goings, for example, when you just listened to the track via the video. She also incorporates a fluttering Piano line and a gentle Synthesizer to the mix too. The lyrics are simple, with universal themes like separation from a love interest and expressing how you feel when you’re apart from a special someone in your life, shining through brief sequences like “I always needed time on my own/I never thought I’d need you there when I cried” and “And the days feel like years when I’m alone/And the bed where you lie is made up on your side” that deal with internal conflict a little bit, and these words are matched by an anthology of cheesy love stories in the music video. The chorus makes these lyrics feel a bit more catchy, with some explosive Drum sequences and a lightly distorted guitar melody creating enough of a Hard Rock angle to the tune, reminding us that it is, indeed, a track by Avril Lavigne. Personally, I felt it was fine. This is superficially like any kind of Pop-Rock ballad though, with some contemplative songwriting and some touching instrumentation lending the record at least a little bit of emotional depth. My issue is that there’s absolutely no subtlety here, however, and it simply feels too straightforward for the vocals to really tug at my heart strings very much. There’s some nice Piano sequences and a lower tempo that gives the track a slightly poetic feel, but the bombastic drums and the basic themes feel a bit soulless and lacking in much of a distinctive character. Overall, this is a so-so effort that tackles themes of both loss and longing in a warming way, but not a poignant one due to the simplicity.

  • Pictured: Avril Lavigne at an undisclosed gig on tour (2012) (Photo via Zine Cultural/Getty Images)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my new post on the blog today, and I’ll be back to do it all over again tomorrow by kicking off the new week of music with an in-depth look at the current LP from a Swedish House DJ who is the owner of the Young Ethics label and he has also been featured on KEXP’s Song Of The Day podcast.

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Today’s Track: The Wombats – “If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You”

September 25, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ (LP) (Available on January 4th, 2022) (via AWAL)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to brighten up your cloudy Saturday (To a literal degree, for Brits like me) with yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I have a soft spot for The Wombats, an indie rock band from Liverpool who have been doing the rounds on the UK’s teen rock scene since 2003, with the Matthew Murphy-led trio having been one of the first bands that I ever really started to follow properly when I was just 10 or 11 years old. I can remember my sister going to see them at The Cambridge Corn Exchange at one point too. ‘Moving To New York’ is still a tune too, to be fair. We’re now five albums in, and the veteran rock band have an innate sense of what the fans of their underdog-turned-crossover star project want. ‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ has recently been confirmed for a release date of January 4th, 2022 in the new year via AWAL Recordings, and ‘If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You’ is the lead single to be taken from the upcoming new LP release. The band have been reflecting on the Covid-19 pandemic to explore interpersonal relationships on the new single, with Murphy noting “This idea of letting go and maybe just being a bit more present than I have been is a strong theme” on the new record in an interview with Clash last month. To coincide with the album, The Wombats will also be hitting the road for a new arena tour in 2022. They currently have tour dates listed for Leeds, Glasgow, Cardiff and Scarborough, among a handful of other locations, in April. They should attract a sizable crowd, too, given how The Wombats have sold over one million albums worldwide. Check out the quirky music video for their comeback track below.

The Wombats’ forthcoming new album was recorded separately via Zoom, with none of the group’s three members ever jamming in the same room together, sending individual copies of their files to a staggering list of producers which includes Mike Crossey (The War On Drugs, Yungblud), Paul Meaney (Nothing But Thieves, Twenty One Pilots), Mark Crew (Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Bastille), Jacknife Lee (The Killers, U2) and Gabe Simon (Lana Del Rey) to mix into the finished list of twelve cuts, a tumultuous process of developmental hell. “It was pure madness, to be honest”, explained the leader Murphy. Speaking about the new track, he told Dork “For me, ‘If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You’ taps into all of that and asks the question… Is it the circumstances putting undue stress on people? Or have the circumstances shed light on people’s incompatibility with one another?” when talking about Covid 19’s ramifications on his sly, observational songwriting in a press statement. If you are already a fan of The Wombats, the new tune has a ‘no frills’ approach that should please a hefty chunk of their indie dancefloor crowds, although the single does nothing that feels very different to what we may have heard from them before. It goes for a swooping sense of Electro-Pop in the early goings, before the signature snarky mannerisms of Murphy’s previous work shines through the cracks. The hook of “I’ll get out of bed/I’ll stop listening to Radiohead” is a good one. Meanwhile, the verses go for a simpler strum of the bass guitar, with Murphy promising the likes of “No more breaking stuff/No more acting up” in the emotive sections as the tempo continues to build its pace. The chorus feels more pop-oriented, with an electronic backbeat and straightforward lyrics like “Am I losing you in the dark?” undercutting the fast-paced drums and the glistening Synth backdrop, while the guitars feel sharp and the softer side of the strumming guitar from the verses is replaced by a more smoldering, intense delivery. As usual from The Wombats, highly quotable refrains like “I’ll throw a banquet, in a mosh pit” and “Don’t wanna be talking to myself in a supermarket” add a great amount of personality to the rhythms and give the track a quirky sense of intellect, while the single abruptly cuts to silence at the end to leave us pondering if we’ll survive on the other side of these habits that we’ve made over the past two years of national lockdown periods. Overall, I liked this. There’s nothing here that truly makes me believe that The Wombats have become more experimental or tried anything massively new, so that could be a point of constructive feedback for them. However, I think the chorus is pretty catchy, the nostalgic feel of listening to The Wombats is there, and the group have retained their USP despite the pop-oriented direction of the marketability. This is basically The Wombats that we know and love. To sneak a little Wombats reference in here, I think that its cut out for the modern life.

  • Pictured: Matthew Murphy (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Keyboard/Synths/Chief Songwriter), Tord Øverland Knudsen (Bass Guitar/Vocals) and Dan Haggis (Drums) (2018) (Photo by MusicFeeds.com)

That’s it for now! Thank you for supporting my independent journalism on the blog as always, and I’ll be back tomorrow for a new entry in our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library. This week’s pick comes from one of the most memorable female Pop-Punk role models of the era who, by the age of 16, had signed a two album record contract with Artista Records worth more than a reported $2 million. Alongside her musical career, the Canadian singer did voice work for 2006’s ‘Over The Hedge’ and she acted in the live-action drama film ‘Fast Food Nation’ in 2006, which was directed by Richard Linklater.

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Today’s Track: Dawn Richard – “Nostalgia”

September 20, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Dawn Nostalgia in a ‘Second Line’ official press shoot (2021) (Photo by Alexander Le’Jo)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to, yet again, get writing up on the blog for another daily track on the blog, not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A multi-talented Disco producer, Louisiana’s Dawn Richard is a singer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and animator who shot to success when she auditioned for the US TV reality talent series ‘Making The Band 3’ in 2004 as a member of the US girl group Danity Kane, who were officially active from 2005 until 2009. Since that time, Richard joined the duo of Dirty Money with her fellow American singer-songwriter Kalenna Harper, and she began her solo career as DAWN in 2011, before releasing six full-length albums on her own merit. Her latest, ‘Second Line’, was released through Merge Records and Entertainment One to critical acclaim earlier in the year, and the title refers to the parade tradition of the same name that occurs in Richard’s hometown of New Orleans, with the new record exploring the African-American cultural heritage of the practice and fuses elements of R&B, Disco, Hip-Hop and Ambient Pop together as a tribute to, as Richard states in the LP’s product description, “A movement to bring pioneering Black women in electronic music to the forefront”. The recent album also follows Richard’s alter ego as King Creole, an “assassin of archetypes, a Black girl from the South at a crossroads in her artistic career”. Sounds good! Her latest single, ‘Nostalgia’, has also seen tremendous support from BBC Radio 6 Music, KCRW and MPR’s The Current. Give it a listen below.

Regarding the album’s themes, Dawn Richard explained when her latest album was announced, “The definition of a Second Line in New Orleans is a celebration of someone’s homecoming. In death and in life, we celebrate the impact of a person’s legacy through dance and music”, adding to her press release, “I’m celebrating the death of old views in the industry. The death of boxes and limits. I’m celebrating the homecoming of the future. The homecoming to the new wave of artists. The emergence of all the King Creoles’ to come. This is our revival”, and so, on that note, it’s not tricky to see why forward-thinking radio stations like 6Music have pushed the track so heavily in recent months. A feel-good dance anthem for the modern society, ‘Nostalgia’ has a retro-revivalist sound that strikes me as Sophie Ellis Bextor goes experimental in terms of its creative direction, with Richard constantly asking rhetorical questions like “What does it mean to Second Line? To give the good footwork with the good work” atop a video game-like soundtrack that mixes twinkling Keys with chilled Lo-Fi House melodies. Later lyrics, like “I’m trying to find purpose/But I’m lost in your circus” are highly processed, and pulsates off the back of flickering bass lines that feel bouncy in texture, and uses spaced-out synths and ad-lib vocal sequences to put a more contemporary twist on the euphoric street dance traditions of the big, colourful parades of 80’s New Orleans. She also repeatedly asks the likes of “Do you love me anymore?” and “Can we work this out?” atop a robotic monotone ad-lib effect towards the end of the track, before declaring “I want those days back” in a stilted tone. The grooving synths and the rhythmic utters, however, thread different elements of Psych-Funk, Prog-Pop, House and R&B together in an effective way by mixing a slightly comical delivery with a nostalgic throwback feel that leans into Soul and engaging Synth-Pop. All in all, this is a well-developed dance track which feels eclectic and varied, and Richard nods to the past while pointing to the future in the way that she re-contextualizes the traditions that inspired the record.

  • Pictured: Dawn Richard in an official press shot for 21Ninety.com (2021) (Photo by @steviedphotos)

That’s all that I have time for today! Seriously… I have a shift at work coming up right after I’ve published this one. I’ll be back tomorrow, however, as we globe trot outside of my native UK again. My next pick comes from a Brazillian Alternative Folk singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger who has enjoyed heavy support from KCRW in recent months. Netflix fans will know him for performing ‘Tuyo’, the theme track for the Netflix original TV series’ ‘Narcos’ and ‘Narcos: Mexico’.

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Scuzz Sundays: Bowling For Soup – “Almost”

September 19, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Jaret Reddick (Lead Vocals/Slide Guitar), Chris Burney (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Rob Felicetti (Bass Guitar/Acoustic Guitar) & Gary Wiseman (Drums/Backing Vocals) (2015) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and THAT time of the week has arrived where we talk about the teenage music from THAT phase of our lives, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week’s delve into the ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library comes from the 00’s Texan Pop-Punk staples Bowling For Soup, who were formed in Wichita Falls around 1994. They have previously made two appearances on the blog, with their last being a bizzare rock anthem named after the female WWE wrestler Alexa Bliss, which was unveiled to the world last February as a single. ‘Almost’ is another one of their classics, and it’s fair to note that Bowling For Soup are really one of the few surviving members of the ‘Scuzz’ music video scene of the late 90’s to early 00’s, and so they have done pretty damn well for themselves to be honest, and my slowly maturing ear buds had a little soft spot for the Jaret Reddick-led quintet when I was younger, and so they strike me as a little bit underrated, compared to acts like Avril Lavigne and Paramore, in the mainstream rock sphere. ‘Almost’ was the second single to be taken from their fifth album, ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve’, which was the boys’ third album released on Jive Records. The album also features ‘1985’, another one of the band’s most well-known singles, which quickly reached Top 40 radio chart status and peaked at #5 on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 chart. ‘Almost’ memorize it below.

As well as writing and recording odd teenage crush-like songs about Alexa Bliss and how cool she is, Bowling For Soup have taken a few other steps into wider popular culture. For example, you may have heard the theme tune for the very popular Disney Channel animated TV series ‘Phineas and Ferb’, which ran for a fairly long time between 2008 and 2015. You’re also less likely to know that Reddick’s band created the vocal track for ‘Sonic Unleashed’, a video game released in 2008 for several platforms. Meanwhile, ‘Almost’ came before these wacky creative endeavors, and it tells the simple story of a young adult character, who seems very stereotypical by media standards, who goes through several ‘Almost’ experiences during his life. Redick goes on about “I almost got drunk at school at 14/Where I almost made out with the homecoming queen/Who almost went on to be Miss Texas” and he recites rhythmic lyrics like “I almost dropped out to move to LA/Where I was almost famous for almost a day” where he tries to get the title word in as much as humanly possible, it seems. The chorus goes for a slightly more sentimental feel, with hooks like “I almost had you/But I guess that doesn’t cut it” and “I almost wish you would have loved me too” that bounce off the playful refrains in the verses, with a more fiery note of “I almost wrote a song about you today/But I tore it all up and then I threw it away” to trigger the more raucous finale. You could say that it ‘Almost’ feels like a celebration of life’s little moments when we can each get tangled up in the excitement of ‘Almost’ achieving a personal goal, and so the fact that Redick’s song actually has a relatable meaning makes it feel above the average level of other Pop-Punk bands of the time. There’s still definitely a 00’s sitcom theme tune feeling to this one, as usual for Bowling For Soup’s tunes, but at least he tries to say something vaguely meaningful here. There’s still plenty of references to sex and booze that characterized this era of Pop-Punk to a stereotypical tee, but it’s mostly done with a tongue-in-cheek nature and an acknowledging way. The instrumentation is pretty typical for the time too, with Reddick using a nasal voice delivery over the top of melodic guitar riffs and some mid-tempo drum sequences, with a tiny bit of distortion on the bass guitars along the way, however. All in all, I reckon this one is still decent. It’s certainly not a masterpiece and it relies on the Pop-Punk archetypes of the day, but there’s some good fun to be had here. The lyrics are a tad subversive and the songwriting comes close to having a message that you can latch on to. It is pretty catchy, with lyrically barbed verses and clean guitar picking riffs that work well together. ‘Almost’ a big hit.

  • Pictured: An image from the official music video for Bowling For Soup’s ‘Alexa Bliss’ (2020) (via PR)

As mentioned above, we’ve heard from Bowling For Soup previously on the blog, and so I hope that I may have piqued your interest in catching up on a few of my other posts concerning them. Check out their recent hit ‘Alexa Bliss’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/12/todays-track-bowling-for-soup-alexa-bliss/ and revisit their 00’s classic ‘Girl All The Bad Guys’ want: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/01/scuzz-sundays-bowling-for-soup-girl-all-the-bad-guys-want/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Drunk Enough To Dance’ (LP) (Released on August 6th, 2002) (via Jive Records)

Thank you for reaching the bottom of the page with me today! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, for an in-depth look at a track that I wish that I’d gotten around to covering nearer to the time of its release, and it comes from a singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and model from New Orleans, Louisiana who began her impressive career after she auditioned for the US reality talent show ‘Making The Band 3’ in 2004.

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Today’s Track: Caroline Polachek – “Bunny Is A Rider”

September 18, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Caroline Polachek in a PR shoot for a ‘Fader’ interview (2019) (Photo Credit: Nedda Asfari)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for us both to take a few minutes out of our frantically busy Saturdays to invest in yet another daily track on the blog, seeing that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you asked me to give you a list of solo artists that I feel could be right on the cusp of breaking out into mainstream territory, the New York-based electronic Art Pop singer-songwriter Caroline Polachek would be near the top of such a list. She began to explore her interests in music production when she studied at The University Of Colorado, where she attended gigs by the Post-Hardcore, Dark Pop and Post-Punk bands of the Brooklyn scene of the late 90’s and early 00’s. Since that time, she co-founded the indie pop band Chairlift, who were active until 2017, and she worked on her solo side projects of Ramona Lisa and CEP. In more recent years, she has started releasing music under her own name and she began working frequently with the producer Danny L. Harle since the release of her debut solo album, ‘PANG’, in 2019. Polachek has now worked extensively with other artists, including Charli XCX and Blood Orange, and she wrote Beyonce’s single ‘No Angel’, which was released in 2013. She has also penned music for Travis Scott and SBTRKT. ‘Bunny Is A Rider’, her new single, was released last month, and it yet again finds her working with Danny L Harle as her producer. She will also be supporting none other than Dua Lipa on her ‘Future Nostalgia’ tour that starts in February. Let’s give it a spin.

First making its grand debut as Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’ on BBC Radio 1 on July 14th, according to Polachek, “Bunny Is A Rider is a summer jam about being unavailable”, which she states in her press notes. She tells us, “Bunny is slippery, impossible to get ahold of. Maybe it’s a fantasy, maybe it’s a bad attitude. But anyone can be blurry, at least for three minutes and seventeen seconds”, and she finally concludes that the single “features a scorching Bass performance from Danny L. Harle, plus his baby daughter’s first vocal cameo” in the statement. I would start by writing that I think classifying this one as a total Afrobeat tune is a bit of a push, but I can definitely sense an influence of the Nigerian genre in the spicy and absurd palette of sonic sounds. The lyrics are vague, with Polachek simply using lyrics like “Bunny is a rider/Satellite can’t find her” and “No sympathy/Ain’t nothing for free” that skew towards Art Pop and create a sense of intrigue for the song’s real meaning. It is unclear what ‘Bunny’ represents, with some allegories for ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and ideas on the illusion of womanhood being scattered around the electronic Pop direction of the freshly conceived melodies. For the verses, Polachek even switches to a first-person perspective, reciting lyrics such as “But I’m so non-physical/I do, I do, feel like a lady” with a twitchy and gliding delivery that feels widely processed to a point. There’s also some parallels to Of Montreal’s tune ‘Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider’ from 2007 in the track title and subject matter, but it’s no more clear whether this is an intentional decision or a pure coincidence. The production feels more detailed, however, with Danny L. Harle mixing up some catchy R&B backdrops and a punchy bassline to make the single feel accessible enough to casual listeners, despite some obscure lyricism that feels literacy-based, and I think the songwriting would have been more effective when given the context of a full album to connect the themes more tightly together. Overall, what we’ve already gotten here is pretty decent. The creativity feels unique enough to not draw an immediate comparison with her contemporary peers and so the track feels quite original on the whole. The enigmatic lyrics are given plenty of energy to bounce from too, with the chopped child vocal samples and the snappy, Pop-driven Synth arrangements giving the single a light-hearted danceability. Although not dream-like, it’s a cryptic puzzle of mostly pleasure.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Bunny Is a Rider’ (Single) (Released on July 14th, 2021) (via Perpetual Novice)

That note brings us to the end of the page for another day, and, thank you for your support, because it is always very much appreciated. It’s ‘Scuzz Sundays’ tomorrow, and we’ll be revisiting one of the few surviving Pop-Punk groups of the very cheesy era of Emo anthems. The Wichita Falls-based rockers have made two appearances on the blog, although it has been a while since we’ve heard from them, and so I’m letting myself off a bit for the potential overexposure. Today’s youth might know them for releasing a rather nerdy rock anthem titled after the female WWE wrestler Alexa Bliss.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Portishead – “Glory Box”

September 15, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Dummy’ (LP) (Released on 22nd August, 1994) (via Go! Beat/London Records)

Good Morning to you! This Is Jacob Braybrooke and, you guessed it, it’s time for me to guide you through an in-depth look back at one of the seminal sounds of the past that has been influential to those of the present for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, because it fulfills my mantra to write up about a different piece of music every day! A female-led group who were largely seen to be the companions of Massive Attack in mid-90’s Bristol, Portishead were one of the greatest pioneers of the Trip-Hop music genre – a blend of Hip Hop and Electronica with elements of Dancehall, R&B and Soul that obscure the two core values to feel quite unrecognizable at times – between their years of activity between 1991 and 1999, with a reunion to follow up in 2005. Fronted by Beth Gibbons, Portishead were named after the nearby town to Bristol of the same name, which can be found roughly a few miles west of Bristol along the coast. The band are mostly known for their debut studio album, ‘Dummy’, which was showered with universal praise from both critics and audiences alike when it saw the light of day in 1994, quickly becoming a landmark British album of the 1990’s. A further two well-liked albums followed in 1997 and 2008, but ‘Dummy’ inevitably won the Mercury Prize in 1995. They also cited an engineer, Dave McDonald, as their fourth member ahead of some releases, and, in 1999, the band received the ‘Outstanding Contribution To British Music’ award at the Ivor Novello Awards. These days, Beth Gibbons has continued to work on projects as a solo musician, and she worked as a judge for the tenth annual Independent Music Awards, supporting the careers of independent music creators. Check out one of their earlier singles, ‘Glory Box’, below.

Built from a sample of Isaac Hayes’ ‘Ike’s Rap II’, ‘Glory Box’ reached the #13 spot of the UK Singles Chart when it was released as a single from Portishead’s iconic triple Platinum certified debut album ‘Dummy’, in January 1995 and the legacy of the track continues to take off because, in 2011, Slant Magazine ranked the tune at #21 in their article of ‘The 100 Best Singles Of The 1990’s’ and it has also been used in a variety of TV drama programmes, including appearances in episodes of ‘Lucifer’, ‘Snowpiercer’ and ‘The Vice’. Kicking off with a classical Bond-like instrumental created from the aforementioned sample piece, Gibbons reflects on post-feminism and what it means to seek love as a woman during the more contemporary times of the track, slowly crooning nail-biting lyrics like “Leave it to the other girls to play/For I’ve been a temptress too long” to the tune of a mellow, ambient and fairly spacious musical backdrop made up of a slow hip-hop breakbeat dressing and a lustful, darkly hypnotic Dub template. There’s a push-and-pull sense of tension to these sounds, with a harsh guitar solo that continually enters the fray at brief intervals, which gives the energy of the track an uplift in the more rough-edged moments, where Gibbons croons lyrics like “We’re all looking at a different picture/Through this new frame of mind” that feel slightly more optimistic, in outlook, than the more swooned delivery that came before. The chorus of “Give me a reason to love you/Give me a woman”, for example, explores her feminime out-and-out dejection with an emotional payoff, while the downtempo Jazz sensibilities knowingly nod just enough in the direction of Plunderphonics and Lounge Jazz. The rest of the production feels very potent, with Gibbons matching the cinematic string-infused instrumental with a voice that almost feels like it’s coming out directly from an antique radio on the beach. It isn’t quite a ‘Chillout’ record of slowed dance melodies and Ambient Pop production that were all the rage for a brief period during the late 90’s and the early 00’s, but the psychedelic backdrop oozes a balanced mixture of melancholy and momentary bliss. Overall, this is a liberating and terrifying anthem for post-feminist despondency of the time, with edgy production that kept things fresh and well-paced instrumentation that amplifies the power very carefully. An iconic “Final Torch” moment from their landmark album.

  • Pictured: Portishead’s Beth Gibbons performing at Roskilde Festival (2011) (Photo by Bill Ebbesen)

That’s all for now! Thank you very much for your continued support for me and the blog, and thank you, as always, for getting this far to the end of the page with me. Tomorrow, I’ll be looking at a popular recent release from a California-born rapper, performance artist, poet and activist who has been opening doors in the Alternative Hip-Hop and Neo-Soul genres, and, as of 2019, has identified as transgender after beginning hormone therapy for a gender transition in that same year. They have rubbed shoulders with huge mainstream mega-stars like Kanye West and Taylor Swift.

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Scuzz Sundays: Puddle Of Mudd – “She Hates Me”

September 12, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Come Clean’ (LP) (Released on August 28th, 2021) (via Flawless/Geffen Records)

Good Morning to you! It is Jacob Braybrooke here, and it sure looks like we have quickly reached the end of the week and so that means, for the blog, it is time for another entry in our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library, where we relive or cringe along to the Pop-Punk hits of the angsty adolescent times of our lives, not forgetting that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Puddle Of Mudd were a Post-Grunge-meets-Hard Rock band who were formed in Kansas City, Missouri during the early 90’s and, to date, they since went on to have a string of #1 singles in Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the US. They are still active today, having released another studio album, ‘Welcome To Galvania’, in 2019. They also have one EP, an independent album and five studio albums to their name, and so it seems quite surprising that Puddle Of Mudd have never made an appearance on my throwback feature until now. The band have also faced a share of downs amongst their ups, including their lead vocalist – Wes Scantlin – being hit with allegations of lip syncing during live performances since 2012 and some controversy surrounding a feud with their former connection, Fred Durst, which turned sour in the early 00’s, although the band still appreciate how he has initially aided them on their way to gaining attention in the industry. ‘She Hates Me’ was taken from their debut album, ‘Come Clean’, which has sold its way to over five milllion copies and it has been certified Platinum three times following its release in 2001, and you should probably recognize the famous LP cover artwork that was created by photographer Kate Schermerhorn. Released as a single in 2002, ‘She Hates Me’ reached the Top 20 of the singles charts in Austria, the UK, US, Ireland and Australia. Give it a spin below.

Originally titled as ‘She F***ing Hates Me’ for its initial release as a track on their debut album, this profanity-filled Nu-Metal tune continued the group’s rising popularity in the US, having peaked at #13 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, and it also reached the very top spot of Billboard’s Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for one week in late 1992, becoming Puddle Of Mudd’s second single to sell over 500,000 copies alone in their native country. It was also the group’s third top 20 hit in the UK, and it also won an ASCAP Pop Music Award in 2004. Kicking off with a bright acoustic guitar strum that sounds just like ‘Summer Nights’ from the musical ‘Grease’ to my ears, Scantlin swings for a Southern Blues sound with his husky voice, starting with lyrics like “Met a girl, thought she was grand/Fell in love, Found out first hand” which feel optimistic, before changing his tone to recite lyrics of a more grizzled nature as his romantic experience takes the turn for the worse, with lyrics like “In a trap, trip I can’t grip/Never thought I’d be the one who’d slip” in the later verse, before he shouts his way to angry hooks like “She tore my feelings like I had none/and ripped them away” atop a serve of lightly distorted bass guitar riffage during the chorus. What you see is basically what you get, with a straightforward sense of navigation through a sour summer romance of an angsty adolescent age during the large bulk of the track, as super slap-dash lyrics like “Went well for a week or two/Then it all came unglued” and “She was queen for about an hour/After that, s**t got sour” take centre stage, with the track’s original sweary title being very badly blurred out in the chorus of the edited single version that we just heard today. It all sounds clunky and cumbersome, on the whole, as there’s simply no detail to the lyrics at all and very little character development as a whole. We know that his former interest hates him – but why? Probably because he makes songs like this that makes barely any logical sense and poorly borrows ideas from the likes of Kurt Cobain, and ‘Grease’ of all things, to a blatant degree. I hate to say it, but I thought it was awful, overall. There’s sadly not much of a unique selling point here, and the lyrics are quite horrendous. The more Country-inspired vocals were certainly alright, but the instrumentation felt very bland otherwise, and the tune as an overall package just fell flat for me in the process, and there’s sadly little fun to be had here. A memory from the era that I’d rather not relive.

  • Pictured: Wes Scantlin (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Acoustic Guitar), Matt Fuller (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Michael John Adams (Bass Guitar) and Dave Moreno (Drums) (2019) (Photo by WeGow.com)

That’s all for now, and thank you very much for joining me, as always. I’ll be back tomorrow for business as usual, and a far more positive revelation of new music, as we divert our attention to the new album from the solo project of a Montreal-born Alternative R&B singer-songwriter who used to be a part of Mac DeMarco’s touring band – and he released his debut solo album as a cassette via Fixture Records in 2013.

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