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Today’s Track: Arlo Parks (feat. Clairo) – “Green Eyes”

November 2, 2020 — Leave a comment

I spy with my little eye – The latest from a BBC Radio 1 A-listed singer. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for "Collapsed In Sunbeams" (LP) (Available from January 29th, 2021) (via Transgressive Records)
    Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Collapsed In Sunbeams” (LP) (Available from January 29th, 2021) (via Transgressive Records)

Good Afternoon to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and now is the time for me to get typing up about tooay’s 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 poet and singer-songwriter who was born and raised in Hammersmith, London – Arlo Parks has quickly become one of the year’s most promising new artists ever since she was included in the BBC’s Sound Of 2020 poll. She is known for her previously released singles “Eugene”, “Hurt” and “Black Dog”, two of which you may remember reading about on the blog before. A brand new single, “Green Eyes”, has just surfaced, and it also arrives with the announcement of Parks’ debut full-length album release, “Collapsed In Sunbeams”, which is set for it’s release early next year, on January 29th, via the Transgressive Records label. “Green Eyes” features US singer-songwriter Clairo on Backing Vocals and Guitar, and the lyrics are about “self-discovery, self-acceptance and adolescence” according to Parks’ description in her press release, who added that: “It is supposed to uplift and comfort those going through hard times”. Let’s take a listen down below.

The music video for “Green Eyes” was directed by Louis Bhose and it’s made the track listing for the album, that Parks describes as “a series of vignettes and intimate portraits surrounding my adolescence and the people that shaped it.”, before adding: “It is rooted in storytelling and nostalgia – I want it to feel both universal and hyper specific” when explaining its themes. The new track is also embellished with the similar honeyed production methods and poetic lyrical devices that we have grown accustomed to hearing from Parks, but with a few subtle changes to keep things interesting. Parks starts off by spinning on a Spoken Word tale: “Painting Kaia’s bedroom/I think she wanted green” before quickly diverting her attention: “But the weather puts you on my mind/Dragonfruit and Peaches in the wine” as the blissful synth line washes over a lo-fi bass guitar brush. The bridge is decorated with soft keyboard melodies, as Parks recites: “Of course, I know why, we lasted two months/Could not hold my hand in public” and diverting to the chorus with “I could never blame you darling”, a light refrain that gets delivered with a melancholic, emotional depth. Parks recites: “Some of these folks wanna make you cry/But, you’ve gotta trust how you feel inside/And shine” to tell a story of a self-reflection of a short-lived summer relationship in the form of a letter of address to her former lover, while the lyrics are also touching on finding self-acceptance when the rest of the world isn’t always an accepting one. Like the rain falling on a late-summer day, the second half of the track sees a darker variation of the keyboard melodies play a factor, and layered acoustic guitar rhythms set against the Soulful mood of Parks’ mellow voice. Whereas I felt that both “Black Dog” and “Hurt” succeeded in playing on a more universal message on mental health and bisexuality ideas, I find that “Green Eyes” is delivered in a much more anecdotal way by Parks, and this manages to make the track feel a lot more personal than most of her earlier outings. While the production of the track isn’t necessarily very surprising if you’re familiar with Parks’ work, it differs enough to Parks’ previous singles to stand out amongst the crowd, and the more introspective tones of sound succeeds nicely in bringing the emotional impact out of me. It’s really great and topical stuff from Parks once again, and her debut album is set to bring the often requested warmth to the approaching Winter. This is shaping up to be a cracker!

  • Pictured: Arlo Parks in a promotional shoot for the "Sophie" EP (2019) (Photo Credit: Patrick Gunning)
    Pictured: Arlo Parks in a promotional shoot for the “Sophie” EP (2019) (Photo Credit: Patrick Gunning)

If you liked where “Green Eyes” came from, you can hear plenty more from Arlo Parks with my rundown of “Eugene” here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/24/todays-track-arlo-parks-eugene/, and you can still peruse the link to my breakdown of this past summer’s “Black Dog” here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/07/03/todays-track-arlo-parks-black-dog/

  • Pictured: Tour Poster for the "Super Sad Generation 2020 European Tour" (2020) (via Twitter.com)
    Pictured: Tour Poster for the “Super Sad Generation 2020 European Tour” (2020) (via Twitter.com)

Thank you for reading my latest blog post! There’s always some interesting new music to be sought out, but tomorrow, we’re going back to 1998 for an in-depth listen to a classic album track from a Scottish Electronic Ambient Music duo who were signed up to Warp Records, and once pulled off one of the world’s most detailed fan “easter egg” hunts in the build-up to their 2013 LP record which marked the brothers’ first album release in nearly a whole decade. 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: Tenacious D – “Tribute”

November 1, 2020 — Leave a comment

All right, let’s take a look at the facts – Shallow Hal still wants a gal. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for "Tenacious D" (Self-Titled LP) (Released: September 25, 2001) (via Epic Records)
    Pictured: Cover Art for “Tenacious D” (Self-Titled LP) (Released: September 25, 2001) (via Epic Records)

You know what time it is! Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m here to type up your new weekly installment in our Scuzz Sundays series, where we dig out an ancient relic from under the marble ground of the Emo Rock and Pop-Punk classics of the decades past, to find out whether they can still hold up to quality and value in today’s era of rock. Actor, Comedian, Singer, Songwriter, YouTube Presenter and all-around likeable guy Jack Black is the cream of the crop when it comes to Hollywood talent. Along with the often praised rock singer-songwriter Kyle Gass, Black set up the Tenacious D side-project so that he could write and perform music with his best friend while he was not too busy keeping us entertained with funny movies like “School Of Rock”, “Shallow Hal” and “Nacho Libre” over the years. I consider myself to be a fan of Black’s work, and the band even got their own R-rated comedy flick, “Tenacious D in The Pick Of Destiny”, in 2006, although it was a Box Office misfire. Back on-topic, I can remember seeing the video for “Tribute” on Scuzz TV, in the early hours of the morning, very clearly as a child. This single came before the movie, and it was released in support of their debut studio album in 2001. It has garnered a huge cult following, and it’s one of the Tenacious D tracks that, at least, have always kept the band in the public eye, to their own merits. “Tribute” failed to make much of a commercial impact in the US, at first – but it has been certified Platinum in Australia, and it has been certified Gold in both the UK and New Zealand. “Tribute” was also the first track that Black and Gass performed together, as Tenacious D, live. The album managed to sell 426,000 copies in the UK, by 2005. Let’s pay “Tribute” to them below.

I’ve got to be honest… The demonic granny with the beaming red eyes at the end of the music video always used to manage to freak me out when I was a child. Liam Lynch directed the videos for both “Tribute” and “Wonderboy”, and they have both attained a strong cult status. “Tribute” is nearly entirely played in A-Minor, and the track’s chord progression is strikingly similar to “Wonderboy”. Written in the form of a comedy rock opera ballad, Black and Gass tell the story of slaying a Demon with the Best song in the world, with Black singing: “Long time ago, me and my brother Kyle here, We was hitchkikin’ down a long and lonesome road” before responding “Okay” to a Demon instructing them to “Play The Best Song In The World” to save their souls. Needless to say, “the Beast was stunned” after they played the Best Song In The World, which Black recites over the top of a heavy Acoustic riff and a clashing Drum beat. The bridge is hook-led and takes influence from Garage-Pop, as Black adds: “Look into my eyes and it’s easy to see/One and one make two, two and one make three/It was destiny” and Gass whips out a more electric-driven guitar solo for the breakdown, as Black concludes: “The song we sang on that fateful night, it didn’t actually sound anything like this song” over the top of a fading drum pattern and the incessant, rich acoustic bass guitar chords. The dynamic between Black and Gass is rather cohesive, and the vocals are delivered with a great deal of enthusiasm. This is a highly comedy-driven track, and so your mileage will likely vary on the humor. For me, it drags on a little, but it lands for the most part. While the claim that it could be “the greatest song in the world” is one that’s subjective – I feel it makes for a fun time.

  • Pictured: Jack Black & Kyle Gass of Tenacious D (in 2018) (Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha/LA Times)
    Pictured: Jack Black & Kyle Gass of Tenacious D (in 2018) (Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha/LA Times)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! After a weekend of special posts, we’re all back to normal tomorrow as we take an in-depth look at some brand new music from a singer-songwriter and poet from London who we have covered on the blog before, and she was included in the BBC’s Sound Of 2020 poll. 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/

Halloween Special 2020: Rockwell – “Somebody’s Watching Me”

October 31, 2020 — Leave a comment

Why did the Ghost walk into the pub? For the Boo’s. It’s time for your Halloween post!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for "Somebody's Watching Me" (Single) (Released in 1984) (via Motown Records)
    Pictured: Cover Art for “Somebody’s Watching Me” (Single) (Released in 1984) (via Motown Records)

Spooky Dooky! I’m Jacob “The Howling Beast” Braybrooke, and I felt obliged to write your new daily blog post about something at least loosely related to the holiday formerly known as All Hallows Eve, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If I’m honest with you, I’m an Ebeneezer Scrooge when it comes to Halloween. For one thing, what actually is it that we are even celebrating? For another, it’s not exactly like we’re able to dress up in silly costumes and go to parties, or beg strangers for sweets at their doorstep, in the first place, this year really. However, at the very least, it does give us the chance to take an in-depth look at a fun track that we can associate with all things Spooky Dooky. It’s a track that many people often mistakenly believe was performed by Michael Jackson. I give you – Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” from 1984. This track was a Paranoia-themed radio hit that managed to reach #6 in the UK Top 40 Singles Chart. It was released on the world-renowned Motown label, and it was the lead single from Rockwell’s debut studio album of the exact same title. People often believe the track was credited solely to “The King Of Pop” because of vocal similarities to Rockwell – and Rockwell is the alias of Kennedy William Gordy, who is the son of Motown CEO and founder Berry Gordy. Kennedy was close friends with the Jackson family when he was growing up in the music industry, and so he enlisted the aid of Michael and Jermaine Jackson to perform backing vocals on the track. So, it’s technically true that Michael Jackson was a credited performer on the track – However, he is not the main credited artist to it. Ironically, let’s watch Rockwell perform his global radio hit below.

“Somebody’s Watching Me” also made a very memorable appearance in the Pilot episode of US crime drama TV staple “Miami Vice”, where undercover police officer “Rico” Tubbs performs a striptease routine to it in a nightclub. As you can see from the Twilight Zone-inspired music video, the track had a decent impact on popular culture of it’s time in the 80’s. It turned out to be a one-hit wonder for Gordy though, unfortunately, and so you could say it’s a pity that nobody was listening to him, rather than watching him. Musically, it’s a punchy and humorous take on the 80’s-Schlock B-movie horror film in mainstream pop music form, with Gordy fearfully crooning: “I’m just an average man with an average life” and “I just want to be left alone, in my average home” with a delightfully screeched delivery. Jackson comes in on the chorus, singing: “I always feel like somebody’s watching me” and Gordy chimes in with “And I have no privacy” and “Who’s playing tricks on me” on top of a catchy Synth-Funk instrumental with a tinge of polished New-Wave guitar riffs. A few cascading backing vocal effects are present in the chorus, and the breakdown sees further questioning of paranoia for Gordy when he sings: “When I’m in the shower/I’m afraid to wash my hair” and “But, can people see me on the TV, or am I just paranoid” with a bizarrely old-English sounding accent, over the top of the jovial toy keyboard notes and the tingling little Synth riffs that permeate through the track on top of a typical two-step drum beat. There is a very clear emphasis on the Rock instrumentals for the song’s instrumental backing beat, but the very contemporary 80’s synth and keyboard combination is done quite well. The lyrics perhaps don’t show a lot of progression in the narrative, but the chorus is catchy and memorable. I think that most people would probably agree that Rockwell’s abilities were limited, but it’s still a fun novelty single that was nudged towards the public eye (or ear) by the guest inclusion from one of the world’s most instantly recognizable voices in music. It also shows how far surveillance has come in a way. It’s charming and good enough for me.

  • Pictured: Rockwell (Kennedy William Gordy) with Michael Jackson (1984) (Photo via RollingStone.com)
    Pictured: Rockwell (Kennedy William Gordy) with Michael Jackson (1984) (Photo via RollingStone.com)

Thank you for reading my melodically devilish new blog post! I’ll be back tomorrow with another special post – as it marks the time for a new entry in our Scuzz Sunday series, where we dig out an ancient relic of the Emo-Rock or Pop-Punk genres, from between the late-1990’s until the mid-2000’s. Let me tell you – It may just be The Best Song In The World! 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: Fleet Foxes – “Can I Believe You?”

October 26, 2020 — Leave a comment

A friend asked me if I believed in killer clowns. I’ve no doubt about IT! New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Shore” (LP) (Released on September 22nd, 2020) (via Anti- Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and I am here to write up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up online about a different piece of music every day! Fleet Foxes are an American (To tell the truth, I was originally convinced they are British, I swear they were up for lots of BRIT Awards in ’07 or ’08) Alternative Folk band who I’m not very familiar with to be honest with you, but I do know that they have always been very critically-acclaimed and have their signature sound of Woodwinds harmonies and refined lyricism. I have been hearing their latest single “Can I Believe You?” on BBC Radio 6Music in recent weeks, and it’s been steadily growing on me quite a lot, and the new album from the band has turned out to be very good, indeed. The single is taken from “Shore”, which is the fourth studio LP effort from the band. The album was released on September 22nd, which is the day after the group had even announced it. It was also released to coincide with the exact date of the Autumnal Equinox, and it is also the group’s first release on Anti- Records. Most of the new album was actually produced by Robin Pecknold, the front-man of the 5-piece band, during his time sitting at home over the COVID-19 pandemic, and Pecknold has worked with producer and mixing engineer Beatriz Artola to get the work done. Let’s have a gander to “Can I Believe You?” below.

“Shore” has been recognized by the critics and the press to have a “brighter” sound than a lot of the band’s previous output, and Pecknold has described the record as “A celebration of life in the face of death” in the press release. Pecknold joked that “Can I Believe You?” is “all backwards, but that was what made it so fun to make” in reference to the verse acting as the chorus, the chorus feeling like a bridge, and the bridge is “a different song”, as he’s explained in a recent interview. The track feels mellow and soft on the ears, as Pecknold sings: “Can I, Ever know your mind?/Am I handing you mine?, Do we both confide?” over the top of an isolated acoustic guitar rhythm and a rhapsodizing piano melody. The main chorus of “It never got less strange, showing anyone just a bare face/If I don’t, well, nothing will change/Staying under my weather all day” is delivered over a rolling set of percussion, and preceded by a quick burst of heavier guitar chords. It all builds up to a very refined, soothing bridge as Pecknold drowns his voice in a swelling falsetto, singing: “When I’m one way with them, one with you/What half is it of me rearranged” as a warm, ethereal folk harmony of choral voices add spice to the focused, harmonic vocal melodies. The off-kilter time signature is still there, however, and it adds nice layers of instrumental experimentation on top of an otherwise casual, easily accessible folk sound. Overall, I just feel it’s been layered very precisely, and quite meticulously to a degree, and the mixture of the darting percussion and the soulful vocal performance is a highlight. It also just sounds perfectly suited for the autumn and the weather obviously becoming darker and cooler, rather than being the upbeat summer-leaning hit that a lot of Pop artists are still trying hard to find. Overall, I find it to be an excellent recommendation.

  • Pictured: Robin Pecknold (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Skyler Skjelset (Mandolin/Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Casey Wescott (Keyboard/Synths/Backing Vocals), Christian Wargo (Bass Guitar) and Morgan Henderson (Upright Bass Guitar/Woodwinds/Violin/Saxophone/Percussion) (in 2020) (via PR)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! As always, I’ll be back at it again tomorrow. Join me, where we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the new, debut solo album from the front-man of The National, which has just been released on Book Records, a new imprint of Concord Records formed by the man himself and his producer, from the singer-songwriter who is known for his low-pitched, classic style Baritone voice. 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: Sum 41 – “Fat Lip”

October 25, 2020 — Leave a comment

The sum of all it’s parts, or fractioned off as a mere shell of it’s past? It’s Scuzz Sunday!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “All Killer No Filler” (Released on May 8th, 2001) (via Island Records)

Here we are again… My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to deliver your new weekly entry for our year-long Scuzz Sundays feature, where we take a look back at a Pop-Punk or Emo-Rock hit from the late-1990’s up until the mid-2000’s, to see if it can still hold up to it’s value in our modern times! Sum 41 are a Canadian Pop-Punk band, originally from Ontario, who I still remember as being particularly relevant, at least commercially, during the Scuzz TV era, after the group had been signed up to an international record deal with Island Records, a Universal Music-owned imprint, which was also the home of the era’s pioneering Rock acts Weezer, The Cranberries and The Kilers. The band’s original name was Kaspir. Contrary to the popular belief, Sum 41’s most commercially successful is not “In Too Deep” (The one with the famous Diving-themed music video), and it is actually “Fat Lip”, which was the prior single to this, and it was also the lead single from their debut studio LP, “All Killer No Filler”, which was released back in May of 2001. The track took the top spot on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and it also reached the #8 spot on the UK Singles Chart. The track is still the band’s most commercially successful single release to date, and it left it’s mark on popular culture as it’s been prominently featured on Guitar Hero, NHL 2002 and Smallville. The album was a huge success too, despite negative reviews from critics, although this has led to some more positive acclaim in retrospect, following the years that have since passed by. Let’s revisit “Fat Lip” below.

The band turned to commercially well-known producer Jerry Finn (Blink-182, Morrissey, Green Day) to help them whip up the set list for their titular “All Killer No Filler” debut album, and the track’s title of “Fat Lip” is derived from a Canadian slang term for a swollen lip as a result of someone getting punched in the face. “Fat Lip” is neatly dressed up in a Skate-Punk and Hip-Hop hybrid production, and it sees Deryck Whibley, Dave Brownsound and Stevo Jocz share the vocal duties. A fast three minute of heavy guitar hooks, and inherent rap verses, the lyrics play on the typical themes of the time, of social entitlement and urban disenfranchisement, as Whibley sings: “I don’t want to waste my time/Become another casualty of society” in the chorus, with a quick switch to a rap verse from Brownsound and Jocz a few seconds after, with one-liners like “Attention that we crave, don’t tell us to behave” and “Heavy metal and mullets it’s how we were raised, Maiden and Priest were the gods that we praised” to reference the Metal culture that inspired the Pop-Punk genre to flourish commercially. The track is filled with safe, if heavy, bass guitar riffs and a brash, laddish mentality that seeks to embrace the cliches of the Skate-Punk music at the time. Even in the video, you can spot the Baggy Trousers and the enthusiastically Spiked-Up Hair to a rather obvious degree. I think that much of the appeal of Sum 41 at the time was how they were still just “teens” or “kids”, effectively. For that, I feel the band deserve some merit. However, the song itself…Yeah, it really doesn’t hold up. The rap verses don’t manage to create much of a Hip-Hop sensibility as they’re meshed together with the label-driven guitar pop melodicism, and it feels quite out of place, and of no real emotional impact, as a result of this. It vocally feels a bit too shouty for me, and the structure of the track sounds disjointed and jumbled due to the lack of synergy between the Skate-Punk and Street Hip-Hop elements, although I can appreciate the odd mention of a Mullet as much as the next guy, and the stereotypes of the video still does elicit a few chuckles out of me. Overall, I feel the single’s biggest crime is not that it’s offensive at all, but it’s just painfully generic. It just feels weightless in retrospect and it doesn’t stand out, if at all, much among it’s genre. I think a bit more creative freedom for the band would have given it more legs.

  • Pictured: Deryck Whibley (Lead Vocals/Multi-Instrumentalist), Dave Baksh (Lead Guitar), Jason McCaslin (Bass Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals), Tom Thacker (Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar) and Frank Zummo (Drums/Synths/Percussion) (in Oct. 2016) (Photo Credit: Jonathan Weiner/Rolling Stone)

Thank you very much for reading this week’s edition of Scuzz Sundays! You can join me again tomorrow, where I’ll be kicking off another weeks worth of blog posts with an in-depth look at the new single from an Alternative Folk 5-piece who are actually American (but I originally thought they were British until my friend corrected me a few days ago) who announced their new album the day before they released it, and they released it to coincide with the exact Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd. 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: Djo – “Keep Your Head Up”

October 21, 2020 — Leave a comment

You may think this release is a bit weird, but I’ve seen Stranger Things. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Keep Your Head Up” (Single) (Released: September 9, 2020) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to fulfill my daily duties of writing up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s routinely always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A track that prickled my ears a little on a recent episode of 6Music Recommends, curated by Lauren Laverne, is the funky jam “Keep Your Head Up”, and what prickled my ears even more was her introduction of the new track, as it was produced and recorded by Joe Keery, who is best known for playing the role of Steve Harrington in the Netflix flagship series, “Stranger Things”, which I also really like. He records his own music under the side-project of Djo, and it turns out that he even put out a debut album, “Twenty Two”, last year, which was a success, despite releasing with hardly any promotion or fanfare beforehand. If you’re anything like the cynic that is me, the whole endeavor probably sounds rather random to you. However, Keery has actually been pursuing music for a long time, and, he is a former touring member, and a current contributing musician, of the Chicago-based Psychedelic Surf-Rock group, Post Animal. He debuted “Keep Your Head Up”, his first music material since last year, in a conversation with Wayne Coyne, of The Flaming Lips, on Talkhouse’s Instagram, and Keery later promoted it as part of a Reddit AMA on the r/indieheads subreddit. It is expected that more music will follow up soon. Let’s have a listen to the track below.

Keery was planning to embark on a solo tour as Djo throughout 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic obviously hit, and here we are now. But, in his press release, he commented that his new single represents “a much-needed bolt of positivity in an otherwise dark time”, and he has been enlisting the aid of producer Adam Thein as a collaborator on his new music. “Keep Your Head Up” represents an output from Keery that goes back to 80’s Soul, with a hint of Prince stemming from the glossy production and the sensual elements of Glam-Pop, with lyrics that feel suggestive and provocative, as Keery pleads: “Got to love yourself/Go ahead, touch yourself” to bring a feel of irreverent humour into the fold. The beat gradually becomes heavier and more synth-oriented as the first verse rolls along to “Take that time alone, before your heart belongs to someone else”, before the chorus introduces some robotic backing vocals to the scene, and Keery throws in a George Clinton-inspired Funk sensibility for the chorus, with a joyous set of percussion and a vivid series of piano notes that mix with the jaunting electronics to craft a well-rounded percussion section. The breakdown at the end feels chaotic, with a glitzy set of Funk-laden instrumentals and a heavy use of synthesized vocal effects, before a brief and swinging Horn section enters the picture and the Saxophone solo gives the overly electronic vocals a rest. The production is a flashy and polished affair, while the overall sound is blending elements of 70’s Psych-Funk and 80’s Synth-Pop together with a current EDM undertone, similarly to his contempories like Jacob Collier. I feel there is perhaps a bit of an over-use of the auto-tune effects here, but that’s probably down to my personal preference because it also works well as a stylistic choice with the drowning synth sequences and the experimental layout of the sequencing, but there is a clear love for Nu-Jazz in here, and it feels sophisticated in it’s approach, so it turns out to be a pleasant surprise overall, although I think my heart is set on Natalia Dyer always being my favourite from Djo’s Netflix series – I think she is just wonderful!

  • Pictured: Djo (Joe Keery) visiting the AOL Build series studio in New York (2019) (via J.Kempin/Getty)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! As usual, please feel free to join me again tomorrow. I will be taking an in-depth listen to a recent single from a British Dream-Pop trio, who nobody seems to really know anything at all about, and they’ve been building up their following with a big sense of mystery, following their delightfully warm singles “Empty Beach” and “One Time Villain”. 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: Janelle Monáe – “Turntables”

October 19, 2020 — Leave a comment

A few tables continue to turn for this international activist. It’s time for your new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Turntables” (Single) (Released on September 15th, 2020) (via WMG)

The tables are about to turn! Good Morning, I am Jacob Braybrooke and I’m here to write about your daily track on the blog, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! “Turntables” is the new single from Janelle Monae, a well-known US rapper, songwriter, actress, producer and activist. She has received eight Grammy nominations in her career and she won Billboard’s Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2015 and Billboard’s Trailblazer Of The Year Award in 2018. As a matter of fact, the Boston City Council has also named October 16th as “Janelle Monae Day”, since 2013, in the city of Boston (in the state of Massachusetts) in celebration of her work as an empowering female activist. 2018’s “Dirty Computer” was an absolute hit for Monae, both critically and commercially, and Monae has been breaking into the Hollywood acting world on the side, having starred in 2015’s Oscar Best Picture-winning film “Moonlight” and 2016’s award-nominated “Hidden Figures”. Her latest film project is “All In: The Fight For Democracy”, an Amazon Studios-created documentary about suppression of electoral voting in the US, and it features and was produced by Stacey Abrams. The documentary was released on September 18th, and it is available now on Amazon Prime Video. You probably think I’ve missed a trick by putting this blog post up on October 19th, just a few days shy of Boston’s day dedicated to her work, but I only began my research on the day after, so be it. Let’s hear her rap on “Turntables” below.

Janelle Monae is also starring in the new film “Antebellum”, and she laid out an explanation to Entertainment Weekly, via a recent interview, on why she decided to combine the two worlds of her Hollywood career and her music creativity to come off an informal hiatus from producing rap music to write the track, replying: “Right now, I am focused on turning the election in our favor and I hope this song can inspire those who are on the ground doing the work.”, and there is a clear level of confidence and awareness that you can easily take away from “Turntables”, whether you’re a casual listener or a more hardcore variety of music fan. Monae is never afraid to speak strong words on the track for the causes that she genuinely believes in, mixing her sharp one-liners like “Cookin’ with my crisco, Look at where my fist go” and “You gaslight, ’bout to meet your match” and more politically-charged lyrics like “I got a new agenda, with a new dream/I’m kicking out the old regime” and “America, you a lie/But the whole world ’bout to testify” with an upbeat and rhythmic hip-hop delivery, over the top of a smooth set of subtle gospel backing vocals and quick splashes of classic Jazz instrumentation. It creates an old-school Funk vocal sensibility of togetherness and unity, while feeling contemporary in it’s headstrong approach. The rap verses also have a tinge of 80’s Soul to their pitch, with the anticipation of excitement creeping in as Monae repeats the lines of “Turn, turn, turn, The tables got to.” above an uptempo drum beat and a bass guitar riff which lightly courses along to her backing vocals. The emphasis is placed on Monae’s vocal performance, and it pays off very well, because Monae simply knows what she is protesting about, and her passion really shines through her vocals, which sound direct and straightforward without feeling too formulaic and/or controversial. The classic hip-hop elements don’t progress much beyond Monae’s initial idea and the overall themes of the track sound very simple and clear-cut. However, it results in some upbeat helpings of classic Jazz Fusion beats for you to nod your head along to, and it promotes a sensible and relevant message. Even though it’s probably not her best work musically, it’s perfectly suited for the times and Monae puts in a passionate, strong vocal performance that deserves recognition and feels true to herself, despite tying in to a movie marketing campaign. This gives me hope that a few tables do turn.

  • Pictured: Janelle Monáe at The Castlefield Bowl, Manchester (in 2019) (Photo Credit: Melanie Smith)

Thanks for reading my new blog post! Please don’t forget to join me again tomorrow, where we’ll be taking an in-depth listen to the groovy new dance track from an Australian Disco-Pop band who we have covered on the blog previously, although it was months ago now. The band are comprised up of members who inhabit funny characters, and they have performed at music festivals such as Splendour In The Grass and Falls Festival. They won AIR’s award for “Best Independent Dance/Electronica Album” for their debut LP, in 2019. 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: Foo Fighters – “Monkey Wrench”

October 18, 2020 — Leave a comment

You’ve got to (Foo) Fight… For your right…. TO PARTY!!!!!!! It’s another Scuzz Sunday!

Pictured: Dave Grohl (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Pat Smear (Lead Guitar), Nate Mendel (Bass Guitar), Chris Shiflett (Backing Guitar/Backing Vocals), Rami Jaffee (Piano, Keyboard) and Taylor Hawkins (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (in 2017) (Photo Credit: PR/Brantley Guttierez)

Let’s get right to it! Greetings, my name is Jacob Braybrooke and it’s my task to get typing up on the blog about a different piece of music every day! On a Sunday, we take an in-depth listen back to a relic of the Emo-Rock and Pop-Punk genres, from the years of the late-1990’s to the mid-2000’s, to see if the childhood classics can still live up to our modern taste buds! Today’s music comes from a very small band that you might have heard of before… they’re called Foo Fighters! Led by Dave Grohl, who was also the drummer for the late Kurt Cobain’s band Nirvana, the 6-piece Seattle-formed Hard Rock band have seemingly taken the world by storm ever since the release of their self-titled debut album released in 1995. Obviously, with enormous commercial success and a wealth of established music awards to their belt. Their second album, “The Colour and The Shape”, was released in 1997 from Roswell and Capitol Records. Mainly inspired by Grohl’s divorce from the photographer Jennifer Youngblood in 1996, “The Colour and The Shape” was produced to spund of more of an Instrospective ilk, and Grohl turned to the producer Gil Norton to establish a sensibility of Emo-Rock for the tracks, although the band wanted to create a fully-fledged Rock record, and not another offshoot of Grunge. It’s since been looked back upon as a classic by the press, and it’s notably still considered to be viewed as a seminal modern rock record, and it remains to be the band’s highest-selling album in the US, having sold more than two million copies, according to Nielsen’s chart data. “Monkey Wrench” was a UK Top 20 chart single from this record. Let’s revisit it below!

The album’s cover artwork and the CD’s track listing were both designed to resemble a therapy session, with Grohl splitting up the album between the uptempo cuts and the ballad tracks to resemble the contrasting moods, and “Monkey Wrench” is actually the track which most explicitly chronicles the end of Grohl’s four-year marriage to Youngblood. Grohl has stated the track is, lyrically, “about realizing that you are the source of all of the problems in a relationship and you love the other person so much, you want to free them of the problem, which is actually yourself.” to reflect this. That memo makes it sound like this is going to be a soft and emotional piano ballad, but it’s actually a really fast and upbeat Power-Pop track that clearly has a Punk undertone behind it, to give it a kick of spice. It’s active and punchy, with a strong variety of sharp core guitar work and a kick of energy coming out of Dave Grohl’s lyricism. It’s almost a celebration of the fresh start which gave Grohl new freedom after the divorce, as he chants: “One in ten” three times before an energetic burst of bass guitar rhythms leads us to the hook-driven chorus lines of “I’d rather leave, than suffer this/I’ll never be your Monkey Wrench” to an up-tempo effect that almost gives the style a theatrical value. The verses are still loud and catchy, while the bridge feels more hard-edged, as Grohl sings: “I was always caged, but now I’m free” with glee and energy. The guitar instrumentation is given a touch of distortion in the bridge, and the breakdown introduces a descending set of guitar riffs that represents a palm-muted version of the intro’s riff, and Grohl evidently calls for a mosh-pit with a grumbled, violent series of vocals. The single is still an insistent and obvious radio hit, with a Power-Pop guitar sound that is very commercial, but there’s enough to make elements of Garage-Rock and Post-Grunge for the single to make it’s mark, and the combinations of lead vocals and guitar riffs pull off a catchy and entertaining sound, and it is a classic – so I cannot dispute that! I think this band might just make it ‘big’…

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

Thank you for checking out my latest post! Please join me again tomorrow, where we’ll be kicking off another weekly round’s worth of daily blog posts. We’re going to be starting it all off with an in-depth look at the new track by another pretty mainstream, but also really well-liked, name. This is a female singer-songwriter, actress and record producer who has starred in the Hollywood films “Moonlight” and “Hidden Figures”, and the Boston City Council has actually named October 16, 2013 as her day in the city of Boston in recognition of her activist work. 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 Flaming Lips – “Will You Return/Will You Come Down?”

October 17, 2020 — Leave a comment

Reigniting that influential fire, or sadly dwindling into flames? It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Wayne Coyne (Lead Vocals/Writer), Michael Ivins (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Steven Drozd (Lead Guitar/Kick Drums), Derek Brown (Rhythm Guitar/Percussion), Jake Ingalls (Keyboard/Synths), Matt Duckworth-Kirksey (Drums) and Nick Ley (Samples/Backing Vocals) (in 2020) (via DIYMag.com)

Good Morning to you! I am Jacob Braybrooke and, just like always, I’m here to write 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! Music today comes from an Alternative Rock group who performed a gig earlier in Oklahoma City this week, which was fully socially-distanced, by the way of the band encasing themselves in literally… a “Bubble”. Wayne Coyne and Co. have been around for a handful of decades now, but I’ve actually never got around to listening to any of their albums in full, personally. Criminal for a Music Journalism student? Perhaps. However, it turns out that The Flaming Lips have been very busy over the last few weeks, with the release of their sixteenth (!) studio album record “American Head”, which was released via Bella Union in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the US. It has left a mark with it’s great score of 81/100 on review aggregate site Metacritic, and it has been generally being praised by critics as their strongest album release in a while. In their lifetime so far, the seven-piece music/art collective have been placed on Q Magazine’s list of the “50 Bands To See Before You Die” in 2002, along with winning three Grammy Awards, they also won NME’s award for Best Album Of The Year for “The Soft Bulletin” in 1999, and they also received a BRIT Award nomination for “Best International Act” in 2007. Let’s have a listen to the group’s latest single, down below!

The new album “American Head”, marks a key shift in identity for the band, who had decided to revert back to their roots in Americana and Desert Rock to explore their geographical roots on the record, and it marks the first time in which the highly established group have really thought of themselves an “American” band, as opposed to one that just comes from “Earth”, according to Wayne Coyne’s press release for the new album. “Will You Return/When You Come Down” doesn’t really include any harsh experimentation or an abrasive style of production, but it’s more reminiscent of a simple idea and, sometimes, that is all you really need. The vocals are warm and comforting, although the lyrics allude to a meteorite crashing down on Earth (“Shooting Star/Crashing in your car/What went wrong/Now all your friends are gone”) and a princess waking up from a long slumber (“Flower gun/Now you’re on the run”) while the chorus feels emotionally-driven and powerfully fragile, as Coyne questions the track’s titular line repeatedly over the top of a gentle swell of Operatic, mournful Cello strings and harmonious Xylophone notes. Coyne’s vocal performance is undoubtedly bittersweet, and the elements of Country-Rock are peppered with subtle, twinkling keyboard riffs which add to the Neil Young-esque Piano instrumentation and the lightly psychedelic guitar tones, accompanied by a heavier delivery of reverb for the chorus. At it’s best, the track seems to evoke the 60’s lo-fi acoustic sound of The Beatles, accompanied by the gauzy, starry-eyed narrative inflictions of David Bowie, and the light dream visuals call back to the 80’s Shoegaze scope of My Bloody Valentine. Overall, I love the track! It sounds alternative enough to feel exciting, but it’s just nice and simple. One of the top essential tunes right now!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “American Head” (Released on September 11th, 2020) (via Bella Union)

Back in early July, we took a look at “My Religion Is You” from the band. You can peruse the link to the post here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/07/04/todays-track-the-flaming-lips-my-religion-is-you/

  • Pictured: The Flaming Lips on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (2017) (via NBC Television)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! Don’t forget to check back with me again tomorrow, because it will be time for our brand new weekly installment in our year-spanning Scuzz Sundays feature! The track comes from a small American band who you just might have heard of before… led by a man who was formerly the drummer of Nirvana! 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: Easy Life – “Nightmares”

October 16, 2020 — 1 Comment

I had this awful dream with Hugo Myatt in. That was a Knightmare! It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Murray Matravers (Lead Vocals/Synths/Trumpet), Lewis Alexander-Berry (Lead Guitar), Sam Hewitt (Keyboard/Saxophone/Occasional Backing Vocals), Jordan Birtles (Keyboard/Percussion) and Oliver Cassidy (Drums/Percussion) (in 2017) (Photo Credit: Aaron Powell/TheLineOfBestFit.com)

Good Morning! Here we are again… I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m here to get typing up about your daily track on the blog, since it’s my routinely pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! “Nightmares” is a single that’s actually been doing it’s rounds for two years, but it’s recently been re-released as the A-side of a “Who Gives A F**k About My Nightmares” double single/EP which was released in July. It comes from Easy Life, an Alternative R&B 5-piece group from Leicester, who placed second in the BBC’s Sound Of 2020 Poll this year, of which some previous winners include Adele, Jack Garratt and Ellie Goulding. Fronted by Murray Matravers, the band released their first-ever single “Pockets” for Chess Club Records in 2017, and subsequently signed up to Island Records (a Universal Music-owned imprint) to release their debut mixtape, “Creature Habits”, in 2018. Their latest album, “Junk Food”, released back in January of this year, reached #7 on the UK Albums Chart. The industry would classify this group as an “Indie Rock” band, but since they are signed to a major record label, I would self-certify it as “Indie Bollocks” and not a fully proper “Independent” music project, so let’s just call them an Alternative R&B group. They also came 6th in the Prospect Music Award of 2019. Let’s stream “Nightmares” below.

For a track with a title like “Nightmares”, the sound of this track is probably just a bit lighter than we were all expecting, and I thought it would make a nice change to cover a slightly more “Mainstream” record today, as a way of catering to everybody. Murray Matravers elicits a few chuckles out of me as he starts off: “Who gives a f**k about my nightmares”, and the band begins to tinker around with a hip-hop influenced sound as lo-fi backing beats and a rhythmic vocal delivery comes into force. The lyrics play on a male voice of vulnerability, as it portrays a subtle nod towards mental health issues, as lines like “I wrestle with myself and with my vices” and “It’s all a bit of fun until somebody gets hurt/I’ll take it with a pinch of salt, another lesson learned” come into full throttle, which are layered above instrumental beds of smoky Trumpet patterns and ambient Horn melodies which create a lazy, claustrophobic mood. There aren’t really any full-on, melodic rap verses in here, but there is a quality and an element of hip-hop in the track, with soft Trip-Hop backing synths in the post-bridge and a rather sharp vocal delivery that cuts above the instrumentation throughout the single with a quick dynamic, such as the fluttering Piano lines in the closing stretch and the heavy reverb effects in the post-bridge. Overall, I think it’s alright. The layout used is actually quite genre-bending at times, especially in terms of the decent variation of the instrumentation, and the music video itself shows some good creativity, along with the good Neo-Jazz sensibilities that are the most interesting parts of this track, musically. For me, however, I feel as though, overall, the track doesn’t really build up to much, or at least, as much as it may suggest. The lyrics veer slightly into mental health territory, but it’s a very widely discussed topic now and the track doesn’t add much to it, with a chorus that feels a little bit plain and bland. I also just generally feel it’s lacking that one catchy hook to give it that extra oomph. There’s a variation of instrumentation which is nicely diverse on the surface, and I think it’s suited towards some deserving radio airplay though, but I find the overall effort to be quite forgettable. It’s not the most memorable piece of music I have ever heard, but it’s okay. It made me give a f**k about his nightmares.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Who Gives A F**k?” (EP) (Released on July 10th, 2020) (via Universal Music)

Thank you for reading this post! Don’t forget that we’ve got an all-new installment in our one-year-running Scuzz Sundays series in two days time, where we take an in-depth look at an old Emo-Rock or Pop-Punk classic and see if it holds up! In the meantime, please join me tomorrow, where we’ll be taking a look at the new single from a band that we previously covered on the blog, who have been a big name in the American Alternative Rock scene for a large number of years, who have won three Grammy Awards in their lifespan, as well as a BRIT Award nomination for “Best International Act” in 2007. 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/