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Way Back Wednesdays: The Charlatans – “The Only One I Know”

April 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

Toast would say Tim bloody Burgess, oh wait. That’s Ray Purchess. Let’s go way back!

  • Pictured: Tim Burgess (Lead Vocals/Harmonica/Piano), Mark Collins (Pedal Steel Guitar), Martin Blunt (Bass Guitar) and Tony Rogers (Keyboard/Organ/Flute/Mellotron) (2017) (Photo by Andy Richardson)

Good Morning to you – My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! Perhaps somewhat overplayed at the time, The Charlatans ‘The Only One I Know’ is certainly one of the sounds of the past that has influenced those of the present. It reached #9 in the UK Singles Chart, and it made Tim Burgess and Buds some important figures of the Madchester/Baggy ‘Indie’ era. Burgess has been a hero to many with his listening parties on Twitter ever since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and now that seems to be finally reaching a visible end, The Charlatans have announced a special 30th Anniversary Tour of the UK and Ireland for this December. Like many, the group are acknowledging that a year has been lost for them due to the pandemic, and they’ve amusingly crossed out the “30th” on the publicity poster and replaced it with a “31st” label. Titled the ‘A Head Full Of Ideas’ tour, an accompanying box-set will be made available, featuring five albums and an exclusive bonus single. Released from their 1990 debut album, ‘Some Friendly’, Tim Burgess wrote in his memoir ‘Telling Stories’ that ‘The Only One I Know’ sold over 250,000 copies. Let’s revisit the old single below.

One fun fact about ‘The Only One I Know’ is that it’s continued to be memorable, and so it was used for an advert campaign for Cadbury’s chocolate in 2010. Two years later, it was also used in the Marshall Lewy-directed indie film ‘California Solo’ starring Robert Carlyle. You may also be familiar with a Funk-styled cover version with vocals by Robbie Williams which appeared on Mark Ronson’s LP, ‘Version’, in 2007 – and so The Charlatans’ traditional set wind-downer is still never many miles away from mainstream media exposure. Built from some lyrics that were directly lifted from The Byrds’ 1967 track ‘Everybody’s Been Burned’ and a Hammand Organ Riff that is a nod to Deep Purple’s rendition of ‘Hush’ from 1968, ‘The Only One I Know’ is a surprisingly funky look at romantic interests in the music scene. The lyrics of “The only one I know/Never cries, never opens her eyes” and “The only one I know, Wide awake and then she’s away” seems to imply that a romantic interest is the only one that our narrator feels a logical intimacy with, although a direct meaning is never made abundantly clear. Lines like “Everybody’s been burned before” and “Everyone knows the pain” feel more conclusive, however, and so the vague sentiment of our vocalist expressing his feelings as a victim of unrequited love makes it relatable enough to us as listeners. The instrumentation is relatively upbeat, with a frequent set of funk-inficted guitar licks and a highly baggy groove giving it a lick of danceability. The memorable, off-kilter keys riffs gives it just enough of a Garage beat to make things appeal to DJ’s, and so the crossover appeal feels welcome. The vocals and general production sound a little unpolished, with a slight DIY aesthetic that reminds me of the 60’s counter cultural sound that The Cribs explored on their latest album. The brief interlude towards the end provides for a “Pure Pop Moment” and the more dance-oriented coat of paint to the overall package makes it stand out among the likes of Ocean Colour Scene or Ash nicely enough. The sound is admittedly a bit commercial, and it’s definitely something that my least favourite radio station, Radio X, might overplay to the death like they do with Oasis or The Killers (or Noel or Liam Gallagher after playing Oasis), but, that little pet hate of an observation aside, it’s not a knock on the credibility of The Charlatans on the whole. Overall, it’s still a pleasant, solid track that sounds fresh enough for it’s time, and it crosses over to casuals nicely.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Some Friendly” (Released on September 8, 1990) (via Beggars Banquet Records)

That’s all for another week! – Time is flying past and I hope that it stops doing so because I’ve got important deadlines for my Masters degree to complete, you know. However, join me back here in roughly 24 hours time for some more brand new music, this time coming from an emerging indie Dream Rock trio from the sleepy town of Fleet, Hampshire. Signed to Fiction Records, the group were childhood friends who met at college in nearby Farnborough, bonding due to their love of 90’s Trip-Hop. They’ve made the ‘Hype List’ of Dork for 2021. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Little Simz – “Introvert”

April 27, 2021 — Leave a comment

I used to play a video game on my computer… Where I had little Sims. New Post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Sometimes I Might Be Introvert” (LP) (Available from September 3rd, 2021) (via Age 101)

Good Morning to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Little Simz is an artist who I truly feel is paving the way for a lot of female, black and hip-hop artists in the UK. I absolutely lapped up everything on 2019’s ‘Grey Area’ and the ‘Drop 6’ EP that she put out last year, and Simbi absolutely knocked it out of the park with her Glastonbury performance two years ago. Her fourth album, ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, has seen a quicker turn-around from her that I was perhaps expecting, and she recorded the new body of work largely during lockdown in London and Berlin. It releases on September 3rd via Age 101 Records, and she’s said that it explores her personal life in an industry where everyone is expected to be “extrovert”. Her last album picked up Best Album awards at the NME Awards and the Ivor Novello Awards, along with scooping up a nomination for the Mercury Prize that year, and so I can see her picking up a bit more mainstream attention for this record than her last effort seemed to get, and BBC Radio 1 have started playing this one. Check out the comeback single below.

Despite her difficulties with opening up, Simbi finds her music to be her most pure form of expression, with tabloid The Observer revealing that her new album is 19 tracks long in length, some of which are Spoken Word interludes created to form a narrative. It says the record is “an epic, Wizard Of Oz-style quest as Simz confronts her fears and counts her blessings” that addresses a distanced connection with her father and the results of a relationship. One thing that we all loved about ‘Grey Area’ is that Simbi was very cool and collected, yet outspoken and wouldn’t compromise her work for any nonsense. It’s a trend that Simbi leans into once again on ‘Introvert’, where there’s certainly a lot to unpack in this 6-minute epic. It is somewhat similar to her work on the prior record, but she’s leaning a bit more into the soulful and Gospel undertones of her sound, and it feels like a natural progression for her, as an artist, into the new record. She mostly expresses the her experience of being a Black women today, with a visceral opening and a swelling String crescendo that gives the track a dramatic, sometimes cinematic, mood. Yet, she also balances her cutting edge vocals about race and identity with a personal contrast where she raps about her private feelings and her public persona. I’ve always felt that Hip-Hop has always allowed for the most fascinating contrasts for it’s artists to examine their role as a person and a performer, and Simbi provides a fresh take on it with ‘Introvert’ as she discusses her own desire to be left alone. Being reserved isn’t exactly a common asset when you’re projecting your music, potentially to the masses, and so I find it intriguing that she brings us into her own mindset and the idea that she seems to have different variations of her personality for different situations. So, overall, what do I think of the grand return? Well, I think it’s just absolutely solid. To be honest, it’s only been released to the world for a couple of days, and so I don’t think that I have spent enough time with it yet for it to personally connect with me on the same level that ‘Grey Area’ did, but that’s certainly not to say that it won’t. Everything that I love about Simbi and more is here though, and one thought I had is that it feels more like a trailer or preview for the new album than a standalone single, and so I can’t wait to hear the full results when the album becomes available… One day after my birthday, eerily. I mean, did you hear her flow on this track? Holy Mother of sacred cows, she’s good. It’s blindingly clear to me that she’s not just your average artist. A modern icon.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Drop 6” (EP) (Released on May 6, 2020) (via AWAL)

If you’re not on board with the hype train for the new Little Simz record like I am – here’s a few things to tempt you over. Get up to speed with my thoughts on ‘God Bless Mary’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/09/04/todays-track-little-simz-god-bless-mary/, and my thoughts on last year’s ‘Where’s My Lighter’, with Alewya as the featured artist, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/15/little-simz-feat-alewya-wheres-my-lighter/

  • Pictured: Little Simz with ‘Best British Album’ at the NME Awards (2019) (Photo by Dean Chalkley)

That’s all for today – I can’t believe it’s nearly time again for another ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ post tomorrow, yet, here we are. Join me then for a throwback to a 90’s classic from a staple West Midlands indie rock band who have just announced a huge 30th anniversary tour. Their frontman has also been a hero during the pandemic for many with his listening parties on Twitter. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Jungle – “Keep Moving”

April 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Um Bongo, Um Bongo, they made this one in the Congo in the Jungle. New post time!

  • Pictured: Josh Lloyd-Watson (Vocals/Guitar) & Tom McFarland (Keyboard/Synths) (2021) (Photo via PR)

Good Evening to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, I’ve just finished off my scripts for my Ambient Music documentary as a part of my MA coursework, and that means I’ve got to quickly jump on-board for your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Keep Moving’ is the new single from the London-based now-duo of Electronic Soul artists Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland, which has been getting support across the dial from the likes of BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 Music, NTS Radio, and now my humble abode of OMG Radio, over the course of the last handful of weeks. They have released two critically acclaimed albums, with their self-titled debut LP getting nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2014. Their third album, ‘Loving In Stereo’ is set for release on August 13th via Caiola Records, and it’s their first one to feature collaborations in the shape of US rapper Bas and the emerging Tamil-Swiss vocalist Priya Ragu. The music video was shot in one take and directed by Charlie Di Placido. Let’s check it out below.

The theme of ‘Loving In Stereo’ is new beginnings, a feeling emulated by the aim of the big dancefloor vibe of the lead single ‘Keep Moving’, which was premiered as Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’ one evening on BBC Radio 1 when it was first aired on the radio. Experimenting with a choir, Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland mix up an anthemic, festival heavy-hitting Neo-Soul sound with a very pop-oriented, Disco sound that feels nostalgic enough for a relative throwback to the days of old when we were allowed to pack out a beach resort in Malibu and sip cocktails. I think that it succeeds because it manages to feel relevant to our times socially, but these connections feel vague enough for the single to stand the test of time. The hooks are excessively melodic, and a light Gospel backing vocal complements the ongoing groove, which has a more boasting and strutful personality to it. Call backs to 70’s Bee-Gees are present here, but the detailed guitar licks and the toe-tapping Drum beats fulfill the needs of a modern listenership. The lyrics such as “Unless you understand it, Then find out what to do” and “Don’t think about it, I’ll be running with you” are catchy, and play on not looking back. It’s nothing too political or anything, but it encourages dancing and combines the Soul sound with some more intriguing explorations of Funk. It also has a big ‘Summer Anthem’ feel with it’s rich, percussive melodies and it’s upbeat Violin samples that bounce along to the beat. Overall – I quite like this, and I could see it going for some decent crossover appeal and potentially leaving a mark on the commercial charts. I enjoy that it sounds well-produced, but not overproduced. There’s a lot of polish to the production and the vocals, but it never goes overboard on the auto-tune effects or tries to throw too many elements at a wall to see what sticks. This feels like a very effective Comeback track. Groovy Baby!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Loving In Stereo” (LP) (Available from August 13, 2021) (via Caiola, AWAL)

That’s all I have time for today – but I’ll be hoping to publish another entry to our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature tomorrow, so join me back here in roughly 24 hours time to revisit a staple from THAT PHASE – this time coming from a well-known Hard-Rock, Ska-Punk and Street Punk project who are still making music today, and have independantly sold over four million albums globally making them one of Punk’s most successful independant Metal crossover groups. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Way Back Wednesdays: Nas – “It Ain’t Hard To Tell”

April 21, 2021 — Leave a comment

I wanted to post a pun about Sodium – but Na(‘s), you won’t get it. Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Illmatic” (LP) (Released on April 19th, 1994) (via Columbia Records)

Good Evening to you – Jacob Braybrooke here, it has been a busy one with doing my deadlines for my university projects, but I have just about got enough time to deliver your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I’m not sure whether we really tend to look at enough Hip-Hop music on here, and so we’re going to take a refreshing flashback to the release of ‘Illmatic’, the classic debut album from the East Coast rap pioneer Nas, which was released back in 1994. To this day, Nas has received seven Platinum certifications for his albums in the US and now serves as the head honcho of the Mass Appeal Records label and the associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine. After he’s received thirteen Grammy nominations for each of his thirteen main album releases, his latest, ‘King’s Disease’, finally won him the award for “Best Hip Hop Album” – a shocking statistic when considering his socio-economic impact on popular culture. ‘Illmatic’ is often regarded as one of the all-time best of the US Hip Hop genre, with the album cover depicting Nas at just aged seven – and has been inducted into the Library Of Congress for preservation just this year too, for records they consider being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”, despite relatively low sales at first. Let’s remind ourselves of the closing track and single ‘It Ain’t Hard To Tell’ below.

Nas originally recorded a demo tape for ‘It Ain’t Hard To Tell’ in 1991 that he sent to Columbia Records – He gave it an alternate title of ‘Nas Will Prevail’ and this version was roughly 90 seconds later, with a more Jazz-oriented beat and a longer pair of verses with different lyrics. The tune was later styled as a ‘Hardcore Hip-Hop’ release, however, with samples of Michael Jackson’s ‘Human Nature’ and tracks by Kool & The Gang and Stanley Clarke driving the beats forward, paving the way for a #91 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The samples make for fitting choices, with vocals that touch upon dreaming with no limits for ambition and the idea that ‘the sky is the limit’ as Nas smoothly raps lines like “‘Cause in my physical, I can express through song/Delete stress like Mortrin, then extend strong” and “My poetry’s deep, I never fell/Nas raps should be locked in a cell, it ain’t hard to tell” with a fast-paced delivery, but the backing beats are kept nicely mid-tempo to evoke a smooth feeling. If you listen very closely, there’s also delicate string sections in the background of Nas spitting his wordplay, keeping the instrumentation diverse and accentuating the Horn and Trumpet melodies for a crisper rhythm. The vocals simply make the rapping feel as if we’re intruding on Nas coming to his final form in a sense, with emotive qualities and intimate themes that he gently embraces. The main samples work very well, selling a triumphant mood that gives the track a little more depth than it’s feel-good and very motivational overtones may suggest. Overall, it still manages to sound fresh and feel memorable because it largely feels like Nas to an unmistakable extent. It’s expressive, as Nas lets himself off the leash and leaves you wanting a bit more since it doesn’t drag on very much at all – not to a confrontational extent – but to the point where the scope feels suitably big. It was a moment that I’d also argue that Nas never truly followed up on, and it’s quite important to remind ourselves that we should appreciate Nas while he’s still around us because he has the talent and integrity, as an artist, that deserves the crossover success that he has achieved. Blissful and Brilliant.

  • Pictured: Nas in the studio recording “King’s Disease” (in 2020) (Photo Credit: Brooklyn Vegan.com)

If you’re a fan of Nas, or you would like to get up to speed on his latest material, then feel free to go in “Ultra Black” on my previous blog post concerning him here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/14/todays-track-nas-feat-hit-boy-ultra-black/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “King’s Disease” (Released on August 21st, 2020) (via Mass Appeal Records)

That’s all for today – Please join me again tomorrow as we take a flash forward to the present with an in-depth look at a sampler track from the new album to be released by a Northern Irish female electronic music producer who combines classical scoring and vintage sound design with the latest Synthesizer hardware, and has scored for multiple film, television, theatre and dance projects – including the ‘Game Of Thrones: The Last Watch’ documentary. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Metallica – “I Disappear”

April 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

The feature disappeared for two weeks – but it’s back in business! It’s Scuzz Sunday…

  • Pictured: James Hetfield (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Kirk Hammett (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Robert Trujillo (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) & Lars Ulrich (Drums) (2020) (Photo by Ross Halfin)

Enter Sandman… That’s me, Jacob Braybrooke, in this case, and it’s time for me to get typing up for the return of Scuzz Sundays from a two-week hiatus, and you can blame Easter and WrestleMania for that, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I’m beginning to run out of material a little bit for the Scuzz Sunday feature, as we’ve been running this diary for a few months shy of two years now, and I’ve covered a lot of the big bands who were there at the time, but one of the legends of Metal that I haven’t revisited on the blog yet is Metallica, who released ‘I Disappear’ as the soundtrack for the Hollywood blockbuster ‘Mission: Impossible 2’ back in 2000. I don’t really need to write many introductions for Metallica because they’re pretty blindingly obvious, and they have sold over 125 million albums worldwide as of 2018, so everyone and your Mum should know about them by now. It makes them one of the most popular bands of all-time overall, and ‘I Disappear’ was released at a time where their fanbase was a bit polarized and divided because the band had “gone commercial” in the eyes of the fans who started following them since their more early days, where they built an underground following based on experimentation with Hard Rock and Thrash Metal in the 1980’s. While probably not quite as well-known as ‘Enter Sandman’ or ‘Fade To Black’ – ‘I Disappear’ was still a success, despite controversy surrounding the band’s suing of the ‘Napster’ service allowing fans to illegally download it. The music video was memorable as well, with shots of the band performing on top of a mountain being interspersed with Tom Cruise climbing to make it look as though he’s coming to meet Metallica up there. It yields humorous results – and you can check it out below.

‘I Disappear’ briefly touched the UK Singles Chart by landing on the #35 spot in 2000 and the band were joined by Bob Rock to produce the track, which was written by vocalist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and, more intriguingly, the car used in the music video was auctioned on eBay in 2003. Some improvements were made, such as the new Automatic Transmission system, and went for $70,100 with proceeds from the sale being earmarked for music education programs. I don’t know much about these cars, and so I’m sorry if I didn’t get my jargon quite right, but that sale is equivalent to over $97k with current inflation. As for the task at hand, hooks like “Hey, Hey, Hey” and “Here I go into new days” are prominent hooks to drive the melodic bass grooves forward, with the use of delay pedals and ‘Wah Wah’ pedals to accentuate the aggressive melodies forward. The guitar riffs are pretty basic, basically consisting of two chords repeated for a loud effect, and the lyrics are very simple too. The chorus of “Do you bury me when I’m gone, Do you teach me while I’m here” and “Just as soon as I belong, Then it’s time I disappear” screams for a Sing-a-Long, with upbeat drum signatures that are straightforward, but they do the trick and don’t overstay their welcome. The distorted effects on the guitar solo keep things from lacking vibrancy, and the vocals have a borderline country-feel, with a few nods to a Southern Blues sound. I would say the songwriting isn’t much to write home about, and while this is nothing that’s outright bad, it just lacks quite enough variation for me, and the repetition of the guitar riffs gets ran a little thin, but, otherwise, I think that it mostly succeeds, especially for what it’s trying to do. It’s not a masterpiece, but it was just designed to play over the credits of a mainstream Action movie and that’s something that has become sadly rare to see these days. It was clearly never intended to be a 9-minute experimental prog ballad, and for a catchy hard rock/metal track designed to market a big movie, a lot worse could have been done. The solo is straightforward, but perfectly solid and the lyrics are fun, even if they plod on a little bit. Overall, it may have just been an elongated advert in a few ways, but it’s a nice single. Accessible, melodic and easy to like, it’s just some simple commercial metal stuff that’s punchy and not trying to be anything else. Nothing special, but a lot of fun.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Music From and Inspired by Mission Impossible 2” (Released on May 9th, 2000) (via Hollywood Records, Inc.)

That’s all for now! We’re globe-trotting tomorrow, however, as we take a deep dive into a recently released anthem by a Swedish Post-Punk and Experimental Jazz band who were formed by several members of different bands in the city of Stockholm in 2015. In 2019, they won IMPALA’s “Album Of The Year” award for their debut full-length album release. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Way Back Wednesdays: Manic Street Preachers – “Crucifix Kiss”

April 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

If you tolerate this – then your children will be next. On that note – Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Generation Terrorists” (LP) (Released on Feb 10th, 1992) (via Columbia Records)

Let’s take another trip in the Way Back machine to flash back to one of the seminal sounds of the past that, in this case, has influenced the works of the present. I am Jacob Braybrooke – and it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Cornerstones of the 1990’s Welsh Cool Cymru cultural movement, Blackwood-bred Alternative Rock band Manic Street Preachers (or ‘The Manics’) have truly branched out of the roots of their hometown to wider musical culture, with three instances of reaching the top of the UK Singles or UK Albums Charts, and robust record sales of up to ten million units worldwide, as of 2016. They have also headlined festivals including Glastonbury, T In The Park and Reading & Leeds, as well as further success at the MTV Awards and BRIT Awards since their inception in 1986. ‘Crucifix Kiss’ sees The Manics at their most visceral and blistering, a track which almost made the cut for my Easter-themed spread of posts a short while back. The target of the track’s bile is religion, and Christianity, making it a shout for an ‘Alternative’ Easter section. It was never released as a single, but it was still a popular track that you’ll find on 1992’s ‘Generation Terrorists’, their debut album released via Columbia Records, also a top 60 hit in Japan. Let’s catch an early performance below.

The recording process of ‘Crucifix Kiss’ saw the band recording each instrument separately, rather than playing it as a live band, and then adding the overdubs later on. The development of 1992’s ‘Generation Terrorists’ took place over a long period of 23 weeks at Blackbarn Studios near Guildford, with the main bulk of the drum sections on the record being incorporated on a drum machine, as per producer Steve Brown’s decision, who programmed the sequences with Sean Moore, the band’s drummer. This elaborate set-up finally resulted in a record that met the hype of it’s significant media attention, on it’s way to a Gold certification of sales in the UK. The cult status of ‘Crucifix Kiss’ was a factor in this, as discordant guitar sequences and a fast-paced vocal delivery retain the old-school Rock ‘N’ Roll appeal of the record in it’s original release. An opening narration sample from Patrick Jones leads to aggressive lyrics like “Make povery your perfect home/Allow your leaders to control you/Questions are nor blasphemy” and “Now we’ll take your number for a name/Soak mind control in christening water out of jail” make social commentary on the Church Of England and the distinctions between management of businesses and the running of the religion establishment. The chorus sees angular bass guitar riffs mesh with the repeating lines of “Fall in love, Fall in love with me” and “Nail a crucifix onto your soul” beneath the substance. Although the lyrics would be controversial, it makes the pitch feel no less urgent, and the tempo no less hard-hitting. There’s an accessibility here, however, with clear DIY Post-Punk roots and fast-and-furious immediacy that makes no light matter of the track’s subject on taking a stance against a chruch’s apparent need not to oppress it’s followers in different ways. Overall, the sound is slightly dated on the whole, but it’s still making for some risky moves and for bold lyrical connotations, which meshes the accessibility of Rock ‘N’ Roll with the themes of an outcast being a by-product of avenger in interesting and affecting ways.

  • Pictured: James Dean Bradfield (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Piano), Nicky Wire (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Miles Woodward (Bass Guitar) & Sean Moore (Drums (1994) (Photo via Ringer Illustration)

That’s all, folks – I think Daffy Duck used to say that. That would also take you back. Tomorrow, however, I’ll be catapulting you to the future with an in-depth look at one of my favourite emerging artists, who has already realized some of her great potential. We’ve pushed the Irish poet quite heavily on the blog before – and she took the top prize for my Top 5 ‘Best EP’s Of The Year’ list in January… If you want to peruse that older feature. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Lucy Dacus – “Thumbs”

April 12, 2021 — 1 Comment

Anyone up for a game of Heads Down, Thumbs Up? I didn’t think so. New post time!

  • Pictured: Lucy Dacus in 2016 (Photo by Shelley Hiam/TheAustinChronicle.com)

Good Afternoon to you – My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s now time for me, yet again, to get typing up here for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Well, I survived the two-night binge watch and if there’s any other sleepyheads out there on this Monday, I’ve got a chilled out and stripped back track to share with you, although it’s none the less more haunting and intimate for that. ‘Thumbs’ is the latest that we’ve heard from the Virginia-born indie folk singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus, who was a founding member of the Boygenius trio with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, but she has released two of her own solo albums. ‘Thumbs’ is a track which has been a fan-favourite ever since she started performing it in 2018, and she’s finally released a studio edit of the piece via her Twitter account – along with a teaser for a new solo LP, which she’s been hyping up to her fans by randomly gifting a selection of 100 VHS tapes of this track to them. In Willy Wonka fashion, you could say that it’s the golden ticket of American indie rock music in 2021. She says the track was written about an experience that her friend at college went through in a meeting with their estranged father, and it follows 2018’s well-received ‘Historian’ album. Let’s check it out below.

The downplayed instrumentals and the subdued sound may take you by surprise, but each line of the recent single seems to be deeply responsible for bringing out a visceral emotional reaction for Dacus, who tells us that she wrote it in roughly 15 minutes during a car ride to a restaurant, saying: “Like most songs I write, I wasn’t expecting it. It made me feel weird, almost sick” in her new press release for the promotional tune. When you listen to the synth undertones below the ethereal lyrics, the story of a strange family reunion comes through very clearly as the sparse backing beats and the somber, not sullied vocals are very much left, right, front and center of the mix. Lyrics like “You hung up the phone, And I asked you what was wrong, your Dad has come to town” and “So we meet him at the bar, you were holding my hand hard” set up the angry moods of the scene. Instrumentally, flickering keyboard sounds and subtle minimalism make up the melody. Although it seems our narrator wants to form a closer bond with the father figure, there’s always something weird and “off” about the encounter, a sense of an awkward past getting the better of the situation. Lyrics like “He ordered Rum and Coke, I can’t have either anymore” and “Do you get the checks I send you on my birthday?” sell this internalized struggle as much, with the raw melancholy of “I would kill him, quick and easy” particularly raising eyebrows. It’s not all doom and gloom though, with lyrics like “I love your eyes, and he has them, but you have his” and “When we leave, You feel him watching, So we walk a mile in the wrong direction” talking about biology and blood bonds. “I don’t know how you keep smiling” also comments on the act of fake happiness and “putting on a smile”, while the finale of “You two are connected by a pure coincidence” and “You don’t owe him s**t even if he said you did” closing the door on this reconnecting. The narrative becomes real through the devastating details, and the impressively written track went well beyond my expectations. Dacus’ has a gift in this anecdotal style of storytelling, where the small specifies are more important in conveying the story than a clear-cut pop structure. A rough listen – but beautiful stuff.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Thumbs” (Single) (Released on March 9th, 2021) (via Matador Records)

That’s all for today – After two weekends of festive-themed posts based on Easter and WrestleMania 37, it’s time to go back to the comfort of our usual routine this week. I’ve got some more material for you tomorrow, that comes courtesy of a modern icon in contemporary Classical music. This German composer and record producer is based in Berlin, and he is known for uniquely combining classical and electronic music, with an elaborate set up kit that includes a Rhodes Piano, an upright Piano, a Grand Piano, a Roland Juno-60, drum machines and a Moog Taurus synthesizer, working closely with Olafur Arnalds over the years. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

WWE WrestleMania 37 Weekend Special: 21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin – “Ric Flair Drip”

April 11, 2021 — Leave a comment

To be The Man – You’ve got to beat The Man. On that note, it’s time for a special post!

  • Pictured: Alternate Cover Art for “Without Warning” (Released on October 31, 2017) (via Epic Records)

Well… You could say that last night’s events certainly put a whole new meaning into WWE’s ‘Thunderdome’. Once it got going half an hour later than scheduled though, I had a great night. A fantastic main event, a solid opener that picked up the pace and got things moving again pretty well, the sight of seeing my guy Cesaro getting the big win that I thought and hoped he would in an instant classic, two matches that turned out to be better than expected, and only one of the matches fell outright flat, and so that’s pretty good going, all things considered for a pro wrestling show just shy of four hours long. Sunday’s two-day spread of specifically themed posts continues with a look back at a more contemporary track than my offering yesterday with a track themed around the 16-time world champion Ric Flair. Released in 2018 on their ‘Without Warning’ Halloween mixtape, 21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin, a trio of US rappers and producers known from other projects like Migos, popularized the term of ‘Drip’ through their Nature Boy tribute. It’s a slang expression for excessive fashion and pompous wealth, and the track has, since it’s release, become the second most-streamed song on the RapCaviar Spotify playlist. It’s also the highest charting single for Offset and Metro Boomin, as leading artists, on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking to the heights of #13 after the music video went viral. Let’s check it out below.

It was simply emotional to see fans in an actual venue for the first time in over a year, even if the first sights of ponchos and heavy rainfall was one that you simply couldn’t make up. Anyways, part two resumes tonight with the promising line-up of Roman Reigns vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan in a Triple Threat main event for the WWE Universal Championship, Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship and Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn with a celebrity appearance from the YouTube megastar Logan Paul, to name just a few. Let’s hope the weather holds up. Back to the task at hand, ‘Ric Flair Drip’ is a track which I didn’t recognize by it’s name, but once I hit play on the music video, I instantly knew it. This track was played very heavily on the soundtrack of WWE 2K19, along with a small selection of other tracks. With it’s very recognizably programmed Trap Beats and it’s tense tapestry of moods, it didn’t take me long to gather my thoughts. Lyrically, it plays out as you’d expect, with slang-filled sequences like “Fifty-Seven ninety, Split the coupe on my wrist” and “My car five-hundred and I don’t put no miles on it” that are delivered with a boastful and flauntering attitude, as they glide aggressively over the top of a melodramatic backing beat. There’s some heated String sections and copious amounts of heavy Bassline that dovetail the Grime-inflicted production. There isn’t much of a chorus here, but lyrics that declare 21 Savage as the “Top of the food chain” and flaunter his commercial success as a music artist like “Multi-million dollar, I’m a fool with the hits” that rhyme with preceding lines paint a very clear picture of what they’re getting at here. Icy Keyboard melodies and low-pitched Drum beats make up the darker variations of mood, we get a fun cameo from Ric Flair in the track and the video itself, and that’s your lot. Some of these hooks are decently catchy, and the mood works well even if it doesn’t progress very much. Overall, it feels all a little stereotypical for my liking, with a basic lyrical theme that we’ve seen a hundred times before about money and power, and it doesn’t seem to be pushing many boundaries. The heavy auto-tune effects get rather tiresome and the classic gangster rap picture isn’t doing anything very interesting for them. While it’s not great, it’s pedestrian and it has a brief couple of fun moments. Overall, though, I don’t think it’s really the case of it not really being my thing, I think it’s just pretty bad on the whole. While not inherently offensive, it simply lacks much variation, the songwriting is average, and it gets on my nerves a little bit. So, that leaves me with just one thing left to say – WOOOOOOOOO!

  • Pictured: Ric Flair with the WWF Championship in Albany, New York (1992) (Photo via WWE.com)

That concludes our WrestleMania-centric weekend of blog posts here on the blog, and Scuzz Sundays will make it’s huge return from a two-week hiatus at this point in seven days time. But first, if you missed out on my post yesterday, it’s time to hit the ‘Big Time’ with Peter Gabriel here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/10/wwe-wrestlemania-37-weekend-special-peter-gabriel-big-time/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “So” (Album/LP) (Released on 19th May, 1986) (via Charisma Records)

That’s all for today – I’ll be back to business as usual tomorrow once I’ve recovered from what’s shaping up to be another late one! That’s what you get for being a WWE fan in the UK though, right? You won’t want to miss out though as we sample the new tune from the final member of the Boygenius trio – which also included the recent breakout stars Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

WWE WrestleMania 37 Weekend Special: Peter Gabriel – “Big Time”

April 10, 2021 — 1 Comment

If the Big Ben clock tower fell on your head, it would hurt. Big Time. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “So” (Album/LP) (Released on 19th May, 1986) (via Charisma Records)

Good Morning to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Another year in lockdown has past – and so WrestleMania is “Back In Business” as their marketing tagline tells us. A two-night extravaganza of the ONE TRUE sport gives me perfect reasoning for a two-night spread of wrestling-themed posts on the blog for your entertainment and leisure, and so we start off with WOMAD’s Peter Gabriel with ‘Big Time’ – taken off his fifth album ‘So’ – released in 1986. The track was used as the theme song and marketing slogan of WrestleMania 22 in 2006, which saw John Cena defeat Triple H to win the WWE Championship in the main event. Elsewhere on the card, Rey Mysterio went over Randy Orton and Kurt Angle in a Triple Threat match to begin his first WWE World Heavyweight title run following the tragic death of Eddie Guerrero. The classic Hardcore match which saw Edge famously beat Mick Foley took place, The Boogeyman was booked to go over Booker T & Sharmell in Handicap action, and The Undertaker beat Mark Henry in a Casket Match to keep his then-Streak going. ‘Big Time’ was Gabriel’s second top-ten single on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #8, and it reached #13 on the UK Singles Chart. Let’s revisit the official music video below.

This year’s WrestleMania is the 37th annual incarnation of the PPV event, and it takes place at the same site where it was supposed to be held last year before the COVID-19 pandemic tore those plans in half – and that venue is the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. As a result, this is the first time that any WWE programming for the last year will be taking place with a paying live audience in attendance, although to a limited capacity of around 25,000 fans. Tonight will see Sasha Banks defend her WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship against this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble winner Bianca Belair in the headline spot. Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship is also scheduled to happen tonight, along with celebrity Latin hip-hop star Bad Bunny finally putting some in-ring training to good use by battling The Miz & John Morrison with Damien Priest as his partner. Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro, and a Women’s Tag Team Turmoil match to earn a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles on night two makes up the undercard. Back to the matter at hand – ‘Big Time’ was an Art-Pop crossover success that told a narrative about a man from a small town with big dreams of achieving fame, and he grows to become larger-than-life. Paired with percussive bass guitar sounds and Funk-inspired rhythm guitar licks, Gabriel croons lines like “I’ve been stretching my mouth/To let those big words come right out” and “I’ll be a big noise with all the big boys” that form a satirical study on the basic human urge of success. It grows deeper on the chorus contextually, where lines like “I’m on my way, I’m making it” and “So much larger than life, I’m going to watch it growing” are paired with a triumphant female backing vocal and some off-kilter Organ segments. As the track progresses, the theme grows more mildly psychotic, as Gabriel’s voice becomes more highly processed and the groovy bassline gets more frantic, with drum beats that get slightly more rough-edged. This can be read as a social commentary of the economic consumerist boom enjoyed by those who had not been affected detrimentally by the policies of Margaret Thatcher, with a self-referential style of songwriting that gives lines like “When I show them to my house, to my bed/I had it made like a mountain range/With a snow-white pillow for my big fat had” an irreverent sense of humor. Overall, I rather quite like this. Groovy and full of instrumentally boastful attitude, it manages to sound mainstream enough without losing it’s artistic concepts. A ‘Big Time’ 80’s treat for those Synth-loving ears.

  • Pictured: Peter Gabriel performing in 1996 (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns/RollingStone.com)

That’s all for today – but don’t forget to set a reminder on your phone to tell you that I’ve got more pro wrestling-themed content on the way to your eyes and ears tomorrow, for the second entry in this year’s two-night spread of new posts inspired by the ‘Showcase Of The Immortals’ that is WWE’s WrestleMania. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: The Offspring – “Let The Bad Times Roll”

April 8, 2021 — Leave a comment

This sweet little child of mine – Dexter Holland wants to let it shine. It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Dexter Holland (Lead Vocals), Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Todd Morse (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Pete Parada (Drums/Percussion) (in 2012) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! I’ve got this week’s radio show recorded and ready (That’s 7pm on OMG Radio – if you want to listen in) and so it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! I’ve covered a few of The Offspring’s tracks on the blog before for our weekly Scuzz Sundays feature, and while I’ve not given either of tracks a particularly glowing review, they are still one of the best-selling Pop-Punk groups of all time, reviving mainstream interest for Grunge and Hard Rock during the 1990’s and 2000’s, on their way to a hugely successful figure of over 40 million records worldwide. So, although I was more into Panic! At The Disco and System Of A Down back in the day, I was interested to find out how their sound has matured when I read, just after Christmas, that The Offspring are making a comeback, with their first LP in nearly a decade on the cards. ‘Let The Bad Times Roll’ is their first album on Concord Records and it releases next week – April 16th. Let’s check out the titular single below.

Following some time in developmental hell, it will be intriguing to see how The Offspring’s new material shake up to the popular songs of their older incarnation when their longevity is tested on the live touring circuit. Addressing the LP, lead vocalist Dexter Holland said: “I feel like we’re in a unique period in history where, instead of our world leaders saying ‘we’re doing our best’, it’s more like they’re saying f**k it, and it’s really scary”, which teases a darker and more politically-driven record than we may have seen from them before. It reminds me of the formula that The Strokes made pretty favorably on ‘The New Abnormal’ last year, where a balance between the band’s younger sobriety is struck with a social conscience of a more adult-oriented direction. Marking the first time that the Californian 4-piece have worked with legendary Pop/Rock producer Bob Rock – ‘Let The Bad Times Roll’ feels fitting for it’s frightening music video that sees imagery of animated Coronavirus particles. Starting off with heavy-laden guitar chords and weighty handclaps, the words of “Hey Lincoln, how does your grave roll?” and “Mexicans and Blacks and Jews, Got it all figured out for you, Gonna build a wall, let you decide” hit like a sharp knife. The chorus introduces some acoustic-backed instrumentation to the mix, while some mid-tempo drum beats and some chirpy, melodic vocal delivery contrasts these darkly-themed lyrics with an upbeat rhythm. A wailing guitar solo and some creeping bass guitar riffs enter the picture, while a basic fade-out closes things off. While I’m no great fan of this – there’s a few too many F-bombs that give the undertones a slightly too lazy polish and the upbeat delivery feels a little chaotic, pin-balling around in tone and feeling a bit at-odds with the more observational lyrics – I think it’s decent. It manages to call back to their classic material quite nicely, but to a better effect, it manages to acknowledge how the world has changed since the last time we heard from them. While it’s lacking a little in maturity – it sounds quite catchy and it got me lightly tapping my feet in the chorus. There is no auto-tune effects being used here either, and so that allows Holland’s voice to come through naturally with a decent mix of apathy and aggression. So, overall, while it’s nothing particularly thrilling – I think it’s fine and better than expected with it’s catchy rhythm. On the whole, not bad at all.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Conspiracy Of One” (Released on November 14, 2000) (via Columbia Records)

As I mentioned beforehand, we’ve previously taken a look at some classic The Offspring tracks for our Scuzz Sundays feature, where we revisit a weekly throwback to the Pop-Punk and Emo phase relics of old. If you missed those posts, please feel free to catch up on ‘Want You Bad’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/03/21/scuzz-sundays-the-offspring-want-you-bad/, and, additionally, see what I felt about ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/01/12/scuzz-sundays-the-offspring-the-kids-arent-alright/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Americana” (LP) (November 1998) (Via Columbia Records)

That’s all for today – Quite shockingly, there’s only two regular blog posts on the site this week, thanks to the special posts that I put out for the Easter holidays, and the special posts that are coming up this week… for a particular event. All will be revealed tomorrow! Join me then for our weekly ‘New Album Fridays’ where we take a sampler of the new solo album from one of the former 2 Bears, who previously led the act with Joe Goddard of Hot Chip fame. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/