Mainstream

New Album Release Friday: Foo Fighters – “Waiting On A War”

February 5, 2021 — Leave a comment

What is Jackie Chan’s favourite Rock band? The Kung-Foo Fighters. It’s new post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Medicine At Midnight” (LP) (Released on February 5, 2021) (via RCA Records)

Good Morning to you – Wherever you are. My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and 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 up about a different piece of music every day! It’s New Release Friday – and this week’s clan of album releases include long-awaited efforts from The Staves and The Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. There’s also ‘Legacy’ from Femi Kuti & Made Kuti (the sons of World music legend Fela Kuti) for the more hardcore listeners. Don’t forget the new outings from The Weather Station and Black Country, New Road too. Meanwhile, this week also sees the release of the tenth LP from a band who – although I generally just hate ‘Mainstream Music’ as it were – I think are too huge and popular for me to blatantly ignore. You’ve probably heard of Foo Fighters before – They’re pretty famous. They only have album sales of over 30 million units and twelve Grammy Award wins, including the nod for “Best Rock Album” four times, after all. The new record, “Medicine At Midnight”, was originally supposed to see the light of day in 2020, but this was one of those albums which were pushed back into 2021 because of the butterfly effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This LP follows the release of 2017’s “Concrete and Gold”, which led the group, led by the former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, to their award for Best International Group at The BRIT Awards in 2018. In what suprised me, through a basic search on Google, the reviews seem to range from fairly mixed to pretty unkind for this release, although I think there’s no question that it will sell very easily to a large audience and it will see, at least, decent success commercially. Let’s check out their latest single – “Waiting On A War” – below.

In a press statement to promote the new album, Grohl explained in his own words that the songwriting style for “Waiting On A War” was influenced by a bizzare conversation with his daughter, writing: “Last fall, I was driving my daughter to school, and she turned to me and asked, ‘Daddy, Is there going to be a war?’. My heart sank as I realized that she was now living under the same dark cloud that I had felt 40 years ago”, and he sat down to write the track that very day. Grohl starts out with a somber tone, as he sings: “I’ve been waiting on a war since I was young, Since I was a little boy with a toy gun” over the top of an acoustic guitar beat, and he strums away with the question of “Is there more to this than that?”. A light String melody pushes to the centre of the next section, where Grohl sings: “Fell in love with a voice on the radio” as the tempo steadily increases. The hook of “Just waiting for a war for this and that” represents the cue point for a more fiery temper, where Grohl repeats the opening verse, before going for a more sweeping chorus of bigger guitar melodies and fast drum beats that truck along to the faster vocals. There’s a sense of anxiety and stress to the rest of the track, as a crescendo of sprawling electric guitars and melodic bass guitars introduce the more stadium-sized sound that Grohl’s long-serving band are known for. The sound feels very established, with Grohl’s voice powerfully commanding the eventual key changes of the track, and bringing the anthemic mood to the table. This aspect of the track is perfectly solid. However, where I can nitpick flaws from this piece are within the lyrics. The rev-up of the guitars sound celebratory rather than anguishing, but the lyrics themselves came across as fairly flat to me. There’s nothing wrong with them, per-say, but they feel rather safe and the tuneage feels lacking in a progression of sound for the band. What I mean to say is that it just seems much like ‘Foo Fighters’, and the rather commercially-driven production of the track just felt strangely impersonal and quite underdeveloped for me, with power-ballad sounds that do the job, but the delivery feels rather pedestrian and unremarkable for me. That said, I felt it has the quality of urgency that it’s title implies and if you’re an existing fan of Foo Fighters, you would probably like how the chugging along of the guitars capture that arena-sized concert vibe you’re likely after. I’d just be hard-pressed to find it converting the more cynical to their cause, that’s all. Overall, I think this one is perfectly “fine” – if unspectacular. It fails to expand the Foo Fighters sound in a way which feels interesting for me, but the masses of Grohl’s fans would probably enjoy the security of it’s safety. Decent, if not their most rejuvenating.

Pictured: Dave Grohl (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Pat Smear (Lead Guitar), Nate Mendel (Bass Guitar), Chris Shiflett (Backing Vocals) & Taylor Hawkins (Drums/Percussion) (2015) (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

If you’re a part of Grohl’s legion of fans, you’re probably already a fan of “Monkey Wrench” too. As part of my Scuzz Sunday series of weekly Emo-Rock and Pop-Punk throwbacks from days gone, you can read my thoughts on the defining track here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/18/scuzz-sundays-foo-fighters-monkey-wrench/

Pictured: Cover Art for “The Colour and The Shape” (Released on May 20th, 1997) (via Capitol Records)

And – with that – another week has flown by. A new entry into our Scuzz Sundays canon arrives at the same place and time in roughly 48 hours from now. In the meantime, please feel free to join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at an indie singer-songwriter who gets his second go-around here on the blog. A comedy music performer and storyteller from London – this guy has managed to clock up 26 Glastonbury appearances and he’s taken two successful shows to the valued Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He’s also shared the stage with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Loyle Carner and Billy Bragg. 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: Kara Marni – “Close”

February 4, 2021 — Leave a comment

What does a Plant do when a ‘Close’ friend dies? Photo-Sympathizes. New post time.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Close” (Single) (Released on November 20, 2020) (via Access Records)

Good Afternoon to you – My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and as you may have already guessed, it’s time for me to get typing up 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! 22-year-old singer-songwriter Kara Marni has already been working in the studio with producers such as Sebastien Kole (Alessia Cara, Jennifer Lopez) and Shea Taylor (Rihanna, Frank Ocean) ever since she made the gutsy decision to drop out of her teaching programme at the BRIT’s School to pursue her own creative interests full-time. Currently based in London, where she was also born of a mixed race descent, Marni has supported the likes of Rita Ora and Ray BLK on tour before the Covid-19 pandemic begun, and her main influences include the likes of Amy Winehouse and Ms. Lauryn Hill. After collaborating on “Summer Bop” with the US rapper RUSS, Marni is set to release a brand new EP sometime in the Spring, which she produced with The Invisible Men (Ellie Goulding, Iggy Azalea), who probably want to make her a big star in the mainstream, no doubt. To whet our appetites, Kara Marni released the single ‘Close’, which is about the moment of danger in infatuation. She’s also just released an Acoustic video performance of the track, no less, to strut her stuff, after she gained the media attention of Access Records. Let’s watch the stripped-down version below.

Having had a fairly quiet year after working behind the scenes on her new EP project, Marni decided to speak on the release of “Close” by explaining: “Close is a very personal song to me about liking someone”, expanding, “But knowing deep down that getting too close with this person will end in tears” and, to Marni, it must have a more somber meaning due to the impact of the isolation that Covid-19 has caused between romantic partners all over the world, who may be separated. This version of “Close” feels very small-scale and stripped-down, as a simple strum of the acoustic guitar forms the basis for the instrumental backing beat. It suits the intimacy of the songwriting, where the lyrics are often contemplative and self-reflecting on emotions. Lines like “Feels like I’m caught in a wave/And I keep on sinking” and “I don’t wanna kill the vibe, Right now we ain’t got no lies” are basic and written simply, with a slight poetic skew moulding to the R&B sound of the track. The chorus is a minimal affair, again, with “Can’t let this go too far” and “Why I just can’t let you get that close” feeling direct and straightforward, as if to get the meaning of the verses across to a concise point. The guitar melodies just relax into the honeyed production tidily, and the shuffling percussion keeps the pace moving. Through the stretch, Marni manages to create a relaxing and lounging tone, where the instrumentation feels rather simple and although there’s never a particularly melodic hook in the fray, her voice keeps me drawn to the melodies. It’s just a shame that, for me, the ending results in more of a whimper than a bang, or in this case, a little more of a scream than a gut-wrenching cry. Despite the shaky ending, for me, I think her vocal range is generally good and the overall vibes are straightforward enough to draw casual ears to her sound. Overall, this is an artist who I see potential in because I like the simplicity of the production, but I would probably suggest keeping this all in tact rather than going for simply commercial aspirations and conforming to a label’s demands because she is more talented than that. Dodgy finish aside, she’s still got a decent look and vibe going on.

  • Pictured: Kara Marni in a photoshoot for PAUSE online (2019) (Photo Credit: Jake Hateley)

Thank you for taking a look at the new post today! My digital diary continues tomorrow, with a new addition to our “New Album Release Friday” as we await the weekly drop of a new range of musical goodies. Although I don’t cover more mainstream artists that often, tomorrow sees the release of a new LP from a band who may be simply too big for me to ignore. Led by the former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the US Rock band have won twelve Grammy Awards, including the award for “Best Rock Album” four times. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Way Back Wednesdays: The Sugarcubes – “Birthday”

February 3, 2021 — Leave a comment

I went to Iceland before. I left with a Frozen Pizza and an Indian meal. New Post time!

  • Pictured: Bjork Guðmundsdóttir (Lead Vocals), Einar Örn Benediktsson (Trumpet), Sigtryggur Baldursson (Drums), Þór Eldon (Guitar) & Margrét Örnólfsdóttir (Keyboard) (1992) (via Pinterest.com)

Wishing you a Good Afternoon – I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it’s time, yet again, for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! I recently made my own audio documentary podcast for my MA degree coursework which explored the socio-economic impacts of Bjork as a contemporary cultural icon, and when I asked my mother and my father if they could recall her early work as the lead singer of The Sugarcubes, both of their faces looked a little too blank. On this note, I thought that “Birthday” would make a great choice for our weekly vintage music appreciation feature – here on the blog. This old Icelandic Post-Punk band were arguably where it all started for Bjork, and “Birthday” is widely considered to be her first international hit. Released as the first single from their debut studio album, “Life’s Too Good”, back in 1998 – “Birthday” is a fitting embodiment of the subversive and slightly playful character of Bjork and The Sugarcubes, and after gaining support from BBC Radio 1 icon John Peel, along with the influence and support from trusted publications like NME and Melody Maker at the time, “Birthday” reached #2 on the UK’s Indie Singles chart, and the band would find success in the US after performing the track on an episode of Saturday Night Live, in October 1998. Check out the (English) video below.

“Life’s Too Good” turned out to be a surprise success for the group of 1980’s Icelandic Punk culture producers, with the band taking elements from the Post-Punk sound that characterized both the Icelandic modernity and long-standing naturalist views of their country of the time, and they blended these old capitalist ideas with a quirky twist on the conventional Pop song structure in their compositional approach. The lyrics find Bjork singing about the character of a child who has strikingly unusual habits for a five-year-old girl. The repetition of the line “Today is her birthday” makes these themes clear, although the vocals are more based around very tight wordplay, as opposed to a clear and straightforward context. Lyrics such as “She has one friend, he lives next door/They’re listening to the weather” and “Collects fly wings in a Jar, Scrubs horse flies, and pinches them on a line” are guided through the off-key melodies created by the fairly industrial New-Wave shrills. The list of weird interests and the jumbled poetry on the imagination of the character rattle along to upbeat keyboard riffs, warm syncopated percussion and the clunking Trumpet melodies, while it never becomes very clear what the small girl is doing. Instead of following the build-up with an evident response, we instead get a very experimental method of singing from Bjork, which some listeners may conceive as yelling – as a refusal to conform to any specific style or format. The cries are guttural and expressive, and while the band follow a typical Pop song structure, there’s a noticeable touch on Dance music elements that gave this single it’s depth to stand out. The drums keep things moving along at a swift pace, and the swooping guitar melodies evoke a Cocteau Twins-like feeling of Shoegaze for me to create a more ethereal and brighter atmosphere. The sound would have been a very forward-thinking one at the time, and it was also very notable for that star-making performance from Bjork, who has a career of such longevity. There’s absolutely no wonder to what she would go on to do.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Life’s Too Good” (Released on April 25th, 1998) (via One Little Indian Records)

Well – there’s some nostalgia that I never could have properly had. Way Back Wednesdays will be back at the same point next week. Before then, I’ll be continuing to champion fresh new tunes on the blog. That’s true for tomorrow – with an in-depth look at a hot-off-the-press artist who has yet to even release a full length LP. We turn to the Contemporary R&B genre for our introduction to a female artist who took the bold decision to drop out of her training at the BRIT’s School, and she’s since supported Rita Ora and Ray BLK on tour. 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: NOISY – “Where’s Your Head?”

January 25, 2021 — Leave a comment

You may find yourself Drowned In Sound as a Consequence Of Sound! New post time!

  • Pictured: Cody (Rapper/Lyricist), Connor (Lead Guitar), Spencer (Bass Guitar/Producer) (2020) (via PR)
    Pictured: Cody (Rapper/Lyricist), Connor (Lead Guitar), Spencer (Bass Guitar/Percussion) (2020) (via PR)

NOISY by name – and noisy by nature! Good Morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it’s now time for me to get typing up 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! A Worthing-based Rap-Rock band who describe their material as “mosh-pit worthy noise for the paranoid age”, NOISY have liked to blur the lines of different genres since they formed in bassist Spencer’s basement roughly 18 months ago. Their main influences include Slowthai and Yungblood, and the trio are hoping to support You Me At Six and Bad Sounds on tour for their rescheduled dates later in the year. These days, NOISY are currently signed to Island Records, an imprint of the Universal Music Group, and the major label support has helped them to turn the heads of DIY, Dork and The Line Of Best Fit. Ubisoft also used one of their signature tracks, “So What”, for the soundtrack of their latest Open-World action video-game, “Watch Dogs Legion”, which allowed for wider exposure. “Where’s Your Head?” is a sample of the 3-piece’s sound, which they released as a single last summer – and it was re-released last October as a part of the ‘I Wish I Was A…’ EP. Check out the self-directed video below.

“Where’s Your Head?” is a track simply about having the back of your friends, and the songwriting was highly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. They also took to the streets of Worthing to shoot the music video, as vocalist Cody told the press: “With the subject being quite close to home we wanted to shoot the video all around our hometown Worthing, going to all the places where we’ve met and hung out through the years of knowing each other”. This release, as per fitting of the band’s name, is noisy indeed. Themes of looking out for your companions are echoed during the first two verses, where Cody raps: “I know a sad girl hitting my phone at two, Waking me up ’cause she’s got the blues” and “I know a sad boy losing his left and right, He could be using a mate tonight” over the top of feedback-drenched guitar lines and tribal, ethnological chants that add a backing vocal. Lyrics such as “When he be down, he be questioning his life” and “It’s proving hard to get somebody, Just to talk back” are delivered speedily, and at the breakneck pace of the changing instrumentals, but they suggest a murkier implication for the lyrics. We get some slowed synth lines in the bridge, and then we get ominously thumping electronic bass-lines that allow a brief moment of sentimentality to burst through the Post-Punk guitar sounds, and the energetic lead guitar chords keep things moving at a fast pace. Starting off with the good, I actually think that what Noisy are doing here is original and fresh – mixing the Post-Rock instrumentals with the IDM-centric compositions feels youthful and dynamic. However, If I’m being honest, I don’t like this one very much at all. There’s certainly potential here, so I don’t mean to knock them down too much. However, for me, it feels less like NOISY and more like MESSY. It’s nice to see them mixing elements of Rap-Rock, Post-Grunge and Electronica together, but they feel burned into a cauldron with no real rhyme or reason here. There’s simply something very “off” about the pacing – the attempts to change the tone feel very uneven and jumbled to me, and it almost feels like the synths are trying to fasten bits of the tune together instead of retaining a control to the proverbial chaos. There’s just not a consistent tone that connects the transitions together, and I’ve noticed there’s a bit of a “record label” chorus going on here, and that element of “Pop” also feels buried under the rubble of grunge-driven punk sounds and techno soundscapes. To conclude, I think there’s something with this band – it sounds student-friendly and buoyant. However, the major issue, for me, is just the tone – there just isn’t a lot of cohesion behind the blending of the genres, and the sound feels confused as a result. In my opinion, it could simply be improved with more flow and less clamour – although I have nothing wrong with music being noisy, as shown by my love for Aphex Twin over the years. Sadly, I also need the odd thing to put into the “Worst” category of my monthly wrap-up posts, and not everything can be good. On a positive note, I see big potential here.

  • Pictured: NOISY outside of Wingfield House (2020) (Photo Credit: Raw Power Management/PR)

That’s the end of the story for today – Thank you for the support! I’ll be back for more tomorrow, as always, as I continue to obliterate the final remains of my 2020 backlog with an in-depth look at a recent track to come from one of my Bandcamp deep dives of last year. This independent project represents the new material to come from a duo who previously compiled half of the line-up for the lo-fi indie rock band, Spring Meadow. As a newly formed duo, the two producers released an EP last year on the Practice Music label. 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: The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – “Y-Control”

January 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Are we still giving this a yeah yeah yeah – or will it be a no no no?… It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Fever To Tell” (Released on April 19th, 2003) (via Interscope Records)

Another week, another Scuzz Sunday! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and we’ve reached the end of the week, and that means it’s time to pay tribute to the late-great Scuzz TV channel with an in-depth listen back to one of the genre-defining Emo-Rock or Goth-Rock relics from between the late-1990’s and the mid-2000’s, to see how they sustain their weight in our more modern times. Formed in New York City in 2000, The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s have maintained a decent popularity with alternative music fans since the years of their peak heyday. Taking their name from the slang language of modern New York City, the Garage-Punk revivalist trio – led by Karen O – have earned nominations for the Grammy Award of Best Alternative Music Album for each of their three subsequent albums. “Y-Control” was the final single to be released from 2003’s “Fever To Tell”, their debut LP, which was produced by Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio, Little Dragon, Celebration) and mixed by Alan Moulder. I remember the group being popular enough to take the stage of BBC’s Top Of The Pops when that still existed, and “Fever To Tell” has sold over one million units worldwide. “Y-Control” was also used for the soundtrack for the video game – “Dirt 2”. Let’s ‘Dial D for Devotion’ below.

The title of “Y-Control” refers to the emotional control of a female, referring to the Y male chromosone, but it could also be read as a reference to “P-Control”, an abbreviation for the name of the track “Pussy Control”, by Prince. That explains why the music video was controversial for it’s disturbing imagery, and it received rather muted MTV airplay at the time, due to these haunting pictures of children carrying the corpse of a dog. The single was still highly acclaimed by critics, and Pitchfork listed the track as the 213th best song of the decade regardless. The most glaring sound of the track is the bass guitar chords, which are absolutely drenched in the heavy feedback and high reverberation effects. Karen O opens with: “Oh so, all my loving goes, Under the fog, and I will leave them all, Well I’m just a poor little baby, Cause, well, I believe them all” with a downtempo and gritty pitch, while a juxtaposition can be spotted between the squelching, high-pitched New-Wave synths and the discordant, heavy guitar instrumentation. The bridge of “I wish I could buy back, The woman you stole” precedes the bombastic echoes of the static noises. The lyrics are vague, especially in the chorus, where Karen O chants: “Why-control, Why-control/You walk, walk, walk, walk, my winners” above the fast-paced, frenetic element of the drum riffs that evoke an ‘Indie floor-filler’ style to counteract the somber vocal delivery. In the process, the aggressive qualities of Karen O’s vocals are taut, methodical and controlled. It somewhat echoes the chilling sentimentality of The Pixies, with grammatically incorrect sentences and gargled syncopation, in the lead guitar performance, adding to the ‘broken’ and ‘disturbed’ sub-meaning of the track. All in all, I don’t think the abrasive lead guitar work and the distorted synth instrumentation are going to be within the wheelhouse of every listener, but I don’t think that commercial accessibility is at the top of the band’s list of priorities. We are left with a sad, earnest track instead that cleverly echoes the work of past Garage-Rock bands and early Indie Punk bands to a clever degree, while distorting these elements to bring a fresh twist to the formats – I’m still giving this a ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’.

  • Pictured: Karen O (Vocals/Piano/Songwriter/Producer), Nick Zinner (Lead Guitar/Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Brian Chase (Drums/Percussion) (2003) (Photo Credit: Max Knies)

There’s all the murder she wrote today! Of course, I’m not willing to let you down tomorrow. Check back in with me again then – where we’re going to be going for a similar style of distorted guitar riffs and emotionally driven, harsh songwriting – albeit from an emerging, hot-off-the-press act. This single comes from an indie trio from Worthing who like describe their own sound as “mosh-pit worthy noise for the paranoid age”, and their single, “So What”, was featured on the soundtrack for the recent Ubisoft open-world video game “Watch Dogs Legion”. 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: Kings Of Leon – “The Bandit”

January 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

They’re back to prove if they’re still ‘Royalty’ of the Arena-sized stage. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “When You See Yourself” (Available from March 5th, 2021) (via RCA)

At last, it’s the weekend. Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! It’s been a near 5-year wait for us to hear from Kings Of Leon (The three Tennesse-based Followill brothers and their cousin) again – but after a few teases on social media, they’re back to business. Their latest single is “The Bandit”, which follows the live acoustic recording session of their recent track “Going Nowhere” which the 4-piece posted onto the internet way back in last March. “When You See Yourself” is the name of their new album, and it’s due for release on March 5th, 2021 via RCA Records. As with it’s predecessor, 2016’s effort “Walls”, the record was produced by the Grammy-winning director Markus Dravs (Coldplay, Florence + The Machine and Arcade Fire). Let’s find out if they can add to their belt of 12 Grammy Award nominations, and 4 wins. I’ve never been massively into Kings Of Leon, although I know their stadium rock sound is a fairly popular one. In my younger years, especially around the late-2010’s time, I felt the Southern Rock and Blues-Rock influences of “Sex On Fire” were anthemic, and 2008’s “Only By The Night” was a massive hit. Let’s see what “The Bandit” has to offer.

The gear-up to Kings Of Leon’s new marketing campaign was a cryptic one. In the lead-up to the release of the new single, the Nashville natives sent out 10 T-shirts to their biggest fans on social media, which the group said were ‘one-of-a-kind. This was because every shirt represented a different track found on the new album, and the band left an accompanying note which read: “Printed inside of it are the full lyrics to a new song you may hear in a couple of days, a couple of weeks, or maybe even a month or so”. An 11th T-shirt, featuring the lyrics of “The Bandit” will soon be made available to buy on their merchandise website online. Anchored by a mid-tempo acoustic guitar riff and the folk-led use of bass guitar hooks, Caleb sings: “Chiseled their names in stone/Heavy the load you tow” with a strong vocal harmony. The lyrics tell the basic story of a group of people trying to track down a masked Bandit. Where and Why – we’re left to ponder. The drum chords remain gritty and steady, with Caleb leading the chorus of “And they’re walking around, With their heads in the cloud screaming, Must catch the bandit, reckless abandon” with an emotionally pleading mood, while the acoustic guitar chords settle for a mid-tempo rhythm and the bass guitar riffs feel a little dark. For me, the track zips to the beat of it’s four-minute duration at a mid-tempo pace, with an admittedly decent vocal performance from Caleb Followill, but the musicality leaves some energy to be desired. For me, it simply doesn’t develop any interesting elements that really grab my attention. The lyrics feel plain and bland, with the track narrating a story about a cryptic bandit, a car called Mandy and an indistinguishable beer. The guitar instrumentation feels well-paced, but again, it feels rather boring. I was waiting for a standout solo or a power-pop chorus, but the guitar chords just keep repeating on it’s basis. To me, it makes the rhythm feel lethargic and it doesn’t take the narrative anywhere, a feat that darker instrumentation or off-kilter melodies could have achieved. All in all, it simply fails to expand on Kings Of Leon’s original sound in ways that feel new or exciting – and, for me, after a near half-decade hiatus, it left me very disappointed. That said, if you are already a bigger fan of the band than me, I think you might enjoy this more. However, for me, it needed a little more experimentation to flesh out it’s ideas. Underwhelming.

  • Pictured: Caleb Followill (Lead Vocals/Acoustic Guitar), Matthew Followill (Lead Guitar/Keyboard), Jared Followill (Bass Guitar) and Nathan Followill (Drums) (2020) (Photo via WENN/AceShowbiz.com)

That’s all I have for you on the docket today! Join me again tomorrow – for a new weekly entry into our Scuzz Sundays feature, where we take an in-depth look back at a hallmark of the late 90’s, until the mid 00’s era of Emo-Rock and Goth-Rock delights. Tomorrow’s addition to our canon comes from a female-fronted band who were, much like Kings Of Leon, popular within the big commercial indie boom of the 00’s. The vocalist has recently collaborated on a track with The Avalanches for their latest new album – “We Will Always Love You” – which dropped last month. 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: Common (feat. Black Thought) – “Say Peace”

January 16, 2021 — Leave a comment

Here’s a chum who wants to sleep with the Common people, like you. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “A Beautifal Revolution” (Pt. 1) (LP) (Released on Oct 30, 2020) (via Loma Vista)

Good morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s now time for me to, yet again, get typing up about your daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to get writing up about a different piece of music every day! Lately, I’ve been continuing to work through my backlog of 2020 releases, and one of the most high-profile names who were left in the pile was the surprise release of “A Beautifal Revolution (Pt. 1)” from the 90’s rap icon Common. You’ll probably know Common from his following through the 1990’s, after he gained mainstream success from his work with The Soulquarians. Since that point, he’s appeared in Hollywood blockbuster films including “Wanted”, “Date Night”, “John Wick: Chapter 2”, “Suicide Squad” and…erm…that crap “New Year’s Eve” film. Nevertheless, he’s done loads of work in the media. Common announced his latest album, which he’s considered to be the first entry of two-part project, just a few days before it was released on October 30th, via Loma Vista Recordings. The lead single was “Say Peace”, a track which saw the Chicago native working with PJ and The Roots’ Black Thought. Check it out below.

Common said he wanted the LP collection to “uplift, heal and inspire listeners dealing with racial injustices as well as other social injustices”, before deducing, “A Beautifal Revolution, Pt. 1 is affirmation. It’s recognition. It’s elevation. It’s music to go with a movement. Because the truth is, there is still so much work to do”, when the album was given a full-fledged physical release to celebrate Black History Month in the United States. This track captures your attention with it’s funky, snare-like rhythm, which feels as unusual as it is upbeat. Paired with a Dub-esque instrumental backing track, Common and his collaborators in PJ & Black Thought manage to flex the different meanings behind Peace, as well as the altering pathways to it. The repeating, earthly guitar sounds have an almost African world feel to them, while bars like “And some find their peace through praisin and shouting/and some find their peace through pulling the shades like Malcom/I found my peace through making these albums” and “If you concentrate/You could find your faith, where the higher conscious takes you, That’s peace” come thick and fast above the African-supported instrumentation. The vocal delivery is at a breakneck pace, and it’s almost difficult to follow the lyrics because of the speedy wordplay. Meanwhile, PJ’s sample of “Say peace, we don’t really want no trouble” and “All they really wanna do is cuff you/They don’t love you” continues to permeate through the tracks, reminding us about the discussions of police brutality and righteous serenity that caused a media storm over the summer, in particular. The vocals of this track are taking these commentaries up to another notch, with Common rapping about the importance that Hip-Hop, as an art form, holds in maintaining a positive Black identity – a genre that can be perceived as reliant of the old cultural stereotypes of Black culture. The bars are characteristically motivational though, with shuffling drums and fragmented Bhangra basslines making for unconventional production work. The sitar interlude off the end. Overall, I really like the activist themes on the record, and it’s a rare example of music set on the purpose to teach. Certainly not stuff of the lowest “Common” denominator.

  • Pictured: Common at a “Let Love Have The Last Word” book signing (2019) (Photo via Getty Images)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post – High praise for this track. Don’t forget that we’re taking a turn, for better or worse, with a new entry into our long-running Scuzz Sundays series tomorrow, where we revisit a childhood classic from the Emo-Rock/Pop-Punk era of the late 90’s until the mid 00’s. Tomorrow’s post comes from another pretty big name – a Sacramento-formed Heavy Metal band who have been referred to, by some journalists, as “The Radiohead Of Metal”, for their experimentation. They’ve since gone on to sell over ten million albums worldwide. 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: Visage – “Fade To Grey”

January 13, 2021 — Leave a comment

A melancholic classic from a band who you could say were… Strange. New post time!

  • Pictured: Steve Strange (Lead Vocals/Producer/Writer), Steve Barnacle (Bass Guitar), Robin Simon (Rhythm Guitar/Synths) and Lauren Duvall (Backing Vocals) (in 2013) (Photo Credit: David Levine)

Good Morning to you – My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for a brand new installment of our weekly Way Back Wednesdays feature, where we recover a gem that holds up today, yet pre-dated the 2000’s. This is just the second edition of the feature, and so if you could give me a like and a follow, I would really appreciate it – because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! “Fade To Grey” was released way back in 1980 by the English Synthpop act Visage, via Polydor Records, and it’s still one of the few Non-Pet Shop Boys or Non-Erasure 80’s Synth-Dance tracks to have really survived in the mainstream public’s conscience since that era of futuristic Pop and Kraftwerk-inspired Electronica. Although it failed to make too much of an impression the first time around, it became much more popular when it was re-released in 1991, a time which saw it reach #8 on the UK Singles Chart. As well as making a huge impact for the group in the 80’s LGBT culture, it saw extended success on the European club circuit, reaching #1 in Germany and Switzerland. Steve Strange was the lead vocalist, who kept the act going until 2015, where he tragically passed away from a heart attack. Looking upwards, Visage were significant to the blossoming New Romantic fashion movement, which I wish that I was born to see, during the 1980’s. On “Fade To Black”, Strange wrote the lyrics, while the French vocal sections were written and composed by Rusty Egan’s Belgian love interest – Brigitte Arens. You could still check out the original music video below.

“Fade To Grey” was certified as Silver in UK sales in 1981, and the music video was particularly significant for another key reason, in that it was one of the first music videos to be directed by the team of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who went on to direct very famous videos for The Police, Duran Duran, Herbie Hancock, Ultravox, Yes, and several others of 80’s fame in popular culture. It starts off as soft and gentle, before a sweeping Synth line and French backing vocals set the scene. Strange croons: “One man on a lonely platform, One case sitting by his side, Two eyes staring cold and silent, Shows fear as he turns to hide” on top of off-kilter keyboard keys, and the repeating Synth groove. The electronic beats feel flat in a sense, heavily inspired by the technological views of Kraftwerk and David Bowie as a potentially tyrannical force. The lyrics of the refrain, where Strange sings: “We fade to grey”, create a fairly uneasy atmosphere, whilst the verses play on introversion and Gothic themes. The mood is enigmatic and hostile, yet it’s sold with the calm tones of it’s cinematic quality. The synth instrumentation is cerebral, yet melodic enough for the Post-Disco sounds and the industrial pop elements to create a danceable atmosphere. Although I can’t understand the French vocal interludes because I’m a roast beef dinner, as the Frenchfolk may say, they add a suited sophistication to the methodical, artsy style. Pretentious in the best way, I still feel that the track manages to sound contemporary and futuristic. The Synth riff is iconic, and the detailed production goes a long step in the way of exuding an atmosphere to fill a dim-lit dancefloor with mascara-running teens. Yet, it’s exotic. For a minute, it feels like the gloom of the AI-age future to come.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Visage” (Self-Titled LP) (Released in 1980) (via Polydor Records)

That’s all for today! I’ll be back again tomorrow, and wouldn’t you know it, I have finally got some brand new music to share with you. Tomorrow’s track comes from a Hertfordshire-based English indie folk trio of three sisters who began their musical journey by performing together at open mic nights in Watford hosted by their local pub, and they were scheduled to perform a live set at Glastonbury festival last year before, well, you know what, to mark the end of a four-year hiatus. 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: Shamir – “On My Own”

January 12, 2021 — Leave a comment

Here’s an artist who’s certainly happy to be in their own company. It is New Post time!

  • Pictured: Shamir Bailey in a “Revelations” interview with Lisa Wright (in 2017) (Photo via DIYMag.com)

Good Morning to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and you know the drill by now, it’s time for me to type up about your daily track on the blog, since it’s routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It was pretty hard to miss Shamir’s “On My Own” last year – but in case you did – it was one of the biggest hits for Indie Pop in 2020 – with consistent radio airplay on US stations like Dudlab and KEXP, as well as support from BBC Radio 1’s Indie Show with Jack Saunders and X-Posure with John Kennedy on Radio X. The single came from Shamir Bailey, who goes by Shamir – a Lo-fi, Country Rock and Dream-Pop songwriter from Las Vegas, Nevada. You can find it on their self-titled LP, which was self-released in October, and it’s actually their seventh album overall. Shamir was raised as a Muslim, and they identify as Non-Binary within the LGBTQ+ community, and so Shamir seems to have a unique perspective to write his music from, and they are a well-versed figure for modern audiences who like to see more inclusivity within their music these days. “On My Own” became something of an accidental anthem for COVID-19 Lockdowns, with the lyrics implicating a fitting theme of discovering freedom within isolation. The track, and the album, were lauded by critics – and the single was ranked #49 of the Top 50 songs of 2020 by Consequence Of Sound. See what all the fuss is about below.

When shooting their own music video for “On My Own” around the house, whilst in self-quarantine, Shamir has also developed their own costume design and make-up design skills, which – let’s give credit where it’s due – look pretty terrific here. Shamir also reflected on the songwriting process by explaining: “I wrote ‘On My Own’ last summer after a break-up as a way to remind myself that while it sucked to lose someone I was getting used to, at least I’m an introvert”, before realizing, “But considering the pandemic, it’s also morphed into an accidental quarantine anthem, especially for people who live alone like me”, in their press notes. This is certainly an unashamedly ‘Pop’ single – with an upbeat tone anchored by quick pedal effects, punchy guitar work and acoustic instrumentation. The guitar work is excellent, with Shamir delivering a huge sensibility of Power-Pop with beat-driven chords and quick-moving Drum melodies. They deliver refrains like “I don’t mind to live all on my own/And I never did” and “And I feel it in my bones/Inside myself is where I belong” that aim gunshots at relatable emotions of being comfortable in solitude, with an acid synth beat that slowly builds it’s way to the reverberated chorus. Starting with the good – it feels catchy and the songwriting is inspirational, as a celebration of independence shines through the energetic tone. However, the trouble with it for me, is that it never quite manages to hit it’s stride. Although it’s great that Shamir placed a good variety of themes into the cauldron, I feel that it just musically doesn’t do anything very fresh with them. For me, the accelerated guitars and the insistent drums make for some fun, but they feel uneven and disjointed, with nothing very original to say. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, but I found it tricky to find something that stuck out at me cohesively, and the production could have done with a less jarring feel. Overall, I think this is a decent track – but it’s just not one that I would make a special point of hearing again. I’m sadly just not as into it as everybody else, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying the uptempo sound. That’s just my opinion, after all…

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Shamir” (Album/LP) (Released on October 2, 2020) (via Self-Released)

That’s all for today! As always, join me again tomorrow, for just the second-ever addition into our new weekly Way Back Wednesdays feature, where we take an in-depth listen back to a track which pre-dated the 2000’s. Way back to 1980 is the destination for tomorrow – With a well-known single that became one of the very first music videos that were directed by Kevin Creme and Lol Creme, who famously went on to direct visual works for The Police, Duran Duran and Herbie Hancock. It was particularly big on the European dance circuit, and it was very popular with the LGBT community. 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: Nirvana – “Heart-Shaped Box”

January 10, 2021 — Leave a comment

I was going to put a bad joke about Nirvana here – but Nevermind. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “In Utero” (LP) (Released on September 13th, 1993) (via DGC Records)

Let’s make up for the lack of notable new releases with a “big name” post! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for a new weekly addition to our Scuzz Sundays canon, the time of the week where we listen back to an Emo-Rock or a Pop-Punk relic, which was released between the late-1990’s and the mid-2000’s, all in the name of the defunct Scuzz TV channel, to see if they can hold up to quality in the modern day. “Heart-Shaped Box” was released in 1993, and so it perhaps falls a little before this window. However, it was taken from the last album to ever be released by Nirvana, and Scuzz TV continually played re-runs of Nirvana’s music videos back in the day, and so I’m counting it. I also did not want to go for the most glaringly obvious example of their work – in “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. “Heart-Shaped Box” was the promotional single from their third album, “In Utero”, which was the follow-up LP to the world-famous “Nevermind”, of 1991 fame. The band, including Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and the now-Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, wanted to push “both of the extremes” of their sound for “In Utero”, an album which Kurt Cobain conceded was not as “one-dimensional as Nevermind”. Of course, the group had become a mainstream cultural phenomenon at the time, so the pressure was on for them to deliver the goods on the difficult sequel album. You still can’t walk down any high street in the UK without seeing anyone wearing the smiley Nirvana logo T-shirt, and although I’m not as obsessive about them as their fandom are, it still strikes me to see that Cobain’s trio are still having an influence on modern Rock music and popular music culture. “Heart-Shaped Box” was still a feather in the cap of Nirvana – with a #5 spot on the UK Singles Charts, and further critical acclaim for the music video – which won the Grammy award for “Best Alternative Video” in 1994. Sadly, it was also notable for becoming the last track that Cobain performed live – in Munich, Gemany in 1994 – before his death by suicide later that year. You can still see the Anton Corbijn-directed music video for the track below.

One common misconception about “Heart-Shaped Box” is that the lyrics were influenced by his marriage with Courtney Love – the female lead vocalist of Hole – but as noted in Michael Azerrad’s book, “Come As You Are”, in 1992, the idea came directly from a Heart-Shaped box full of possessions that Love had given to him, with further production ideas throwing around a wholly different title for the track – “Heart-Shaped Coffin”. In any case, “Heart-Shaped Box” attributed to further widespread attention for Cobain’s gang – with the album of “In Utero” having been certified as a 5-time Platinum-selling album, with sales of over 15 million units worldwide. “Heart-Shaped Box” – much like all of the other tracks you’d find on “In Utero” – was intentionally made to feel sharp-edged, and much less polished than the production of tracks like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Come As You Are” from “Nevermind”. It also references a sexual experience with a romantic partner to a pretty explicit degree – as Cobain wails: “Throw down your umbilical noose, so I can climb right back”, to the sound of Noise-Rock guitar chords and feedback-drenched bass guitar riffs that sound pretty jarring, but in a good way, since they sell seething barrages of emotion and retreating Pop-Punk elements in the case of the songwriting. Every verse is supported by a softer backing of frayed vocals and tense progression, with a somewhat laidback delivery of the vocals building tension among the slowly ascending instrumentation. “I got a new complaint, Forever in your debt to your priceless advice” raises the tempo of the chorus, and the angry personality of the vocals. The overall sound manages to become driven by emotional outbursts and reflective songwriting, with a deft lyricism that dynamically changes the instrumentation based on the shifting moods of Cobain’s vocals, with a verse that captures a subtle and raw side to Nirvana’s stardom, mixed with a heavy and abrasive sound that seems more rooted in Nirvana’s grunge roots and the sounds they would likely have explored in their early days. This is hard-hitting – yet rewarding – material.

  • Pictured: Kurt Cobain (Lyricist/Multi-Instrumentalist/Producer), Krist Novoselic (Bass Guitar/Rhythm Guitar) and Dave Grohl (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (1991) (Photo via The Telegraph)

That is all for today – a new entry of Scuzz Sundays will arrive at the same time next week. Until then, why not join me again tomorrow? We’re going to be continuing to explore a Punk and Grunge direction, as we take an in-depth listen to the most recent single to come from the most promising youngster Post-Punk group to come from Liverpool – even though I’m not too sure what the competition of that niche and specific category will be. 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/