Today’s Track: The Streets (feat. Tame Impala) – “Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better”

May 8, 2020 — 1 Comment

The word on The Streets is… Mike Skinner is finally back! It’s time for your daily post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “None Of US Are Getting Out Of This Alive” (Available on July 10, 2020) (via Island Records)

Sweet Victory! Good morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing 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! Mike Skinner is the brain behind the brawns of The Streets, his English rap act, who created his iconic debut album “Original Pirate Material” from 2002 on just his laptop in his bedroom. The album was a huge hit and Skinner has become a force to be reckoned with, releasing hit singles like “Dry Your Eyes” and “Fit But You Know It”. Known for his Garage sound and his anecdotal tracks storytelling the lives of working class British life, Skinner’s credited to be one of the best UK hip hop artists of all-time. I’ve always found his style to be a bit dull and monotonous for my tastes, but he’s decided to enlist the help of Tame Impala, who I really like, for a new single entitled “Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better”. The single will be released on Skinner’s mixtape “None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Alive”, which comes out on July 10th on Island Records. Let’s listen to it below.

Directed by Mike Skinner, the social-distancing inspired video for “Call My Phone Thinking I’m Doing Nothing Better” lets us see Skinner trapped in the mountains and calling his friend, Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, for help. It lyrically encapsulates with Skinner and Parker rapping and singing about their social distance with missed opportunities. Skinner raps: “The phone is ringing/Can’t use it till’ it stops/I moan and listen, the tone emits/The only man in black/hi-viz jackets in the Cab”, over a shuffling synth backing beat at a rhythmic pace that feels reminiscent of old-school Streets. Tame Impala comes in at a breakneck pace as the rap bars draw out to a hazy synth line wash and a reverberated vocal delivery: “I was gonna call you back, I swear/Just as soon as I felt up to it/It just hasn’t happened yet/And I’m still gonna call you back one day” with the electronic instrumentation creating a slight tinge of Psychedelia, as you’d come to expect from Tame Impala. The lyricism is strong and immediate with plenty of references to the Covid-19 situation. The funky, experimental rap verses are catchy and the drumming sequences give it more depth. Weirdly, I would usually not like The Streets and like Tame Impala but oddly enough, it’s the other way around with this. Skinner’s rap verses feel melodic and traditional, whereas the Tame Impala sections feel strange and out-of-place, as Skinner creates Baritone Garage melodies whereas Parker creates a vocal sample that sounds processed and clunky as if he’s going back to his music. It makes the track feel uneven and disjointed in the execution of the genres that it explores. Overall, there are good elements in the track, but it just doesn’t quite work. Skinner’s vocals are quite good, but the Tame Impala sections sound bizzare. Let’s hope this track doesn’t keep “ringing” about in my head.

Pictured: Mike Skinner (The Streets) in a press shoot (2020) (Photo Credit: http://www.diymag.com)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with an in-depth look at a brand new single from an emerging punk band who are from New York and released their debut EP “Distance Is A Mirror” on Wharf Cat Records last November. Please stay inside, don’t do anything silly and keep washing your hands! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: Blossoms – “If You Think This Is Real Life”

May 4, 2020 — 1 Comment

These five have been “Blossoming” their musical friendship – It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Tom Ogden (Lead Vocals/Songwriter), Josh Dewhurst (Lead Guitar), Charlie Salt (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Myles Kellock (Keyboard/Synths) and Joe Donovan (Drums/Percussion) at the 2017 BRIT Awards (via PR)

May the Fourth be with you! Good morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing 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! Blossoms seem like a fairly well-known band because they’ve been getting airplay from BBC Radio 2 and Radio X over the last few years. Blossoms are a 5-piece Pop band from Stockport who had one of the best-selling debut albums of 2016 with “Blossoms”, obviously their self-titled first LP. They’ve spawned fairly big chart hits with “Your Girlfriend”, “Charlemagne” and “I Can’t Stand It”, the first of which I find to be fairly okay and the latter two of which I’m not very keen on. Blossoms are back with “Foolish Loving Spaces”, their third album, produced by The Coral’s James Skelley and released back in January. The record was a number one album on the UK Singles Charts. It’s interesting to note that although they are classified as “Indie” for their sound, they’re not proper indie because they’re signed to Virgin Records as opposed to making and releasing their music independently, so it’s an example of “Indie Bollocks” as you know I like to call it here. I’ve been singing “If You Think This Is Real Life” while pottering around the house a lot lately as BBC Radio 2 have caught on to it. Let’s have a groove with the video below…

Reading my description above, you were probably expecting for me to give it a scathing review, but that’s not actually the case! Although it is a very radio-friendly track, I actually feel that it’s pretty decent and that it’s a lot of fun. Tom Ogden chants: “If you think this is real life/Look and you may find/Run, son, it’s your sunlight, don’t act so uptight” over a triumphant, big synth riff. Rhythmically, he quickly chimes: “I made a mess of your heart/I think we’re falling apart/I made you wait in the rain” over a Technicoloured keyboard riff and a nostalgic, 90’s Pulp-like guitar riff. Ogden also recites: “I said that I would move on, I thought I’d see the world, But I stay in watching the news/At night I think about you” adding a recurring “It’s unacceptable” refrain before a very 80’s guitar interlude and a repeating chorus with the unashamedly 70’s electric instrumentation carrying the melodic formula. It has a tinny, almost makeshift, drum riff repeating throughout the track that oddly reminds me of Men At Work’s “Down Under” mixed with an aesthetic which screams ShowaddyWaddy to me. The lyricism is quite direct and it’s delivered over a sumptuous disco-pop groove, with soft guitar riffs adding to the keyboard-driven melodies that feel classic and game show-like. It’s a bit more mainstream than my usual standards and it’s no doubt an example of “Indie Bollocks” as they’re not independent artists, but, that aside, I find it to be very groovy, infectious, the hooks are catchy and it will appeal to an audience. It’s Pop, but I do think there’s something about it. Therefore, it manages to transcend my musical snobbery – but I will just try not to act “So Uptight” about that!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Foolish Loving Spaces” (Released on January 31st, 2020) (via Virgin/EMI Records)

Thank you for reading this post and I hope that you enjoyed it! Please make sure that you self-isolate with me again tomorrow where I’ll be covering the brand new single from one of 2019’s finest! It’s from an American Female Solo Artist who took a break from music to give birth to her lovely child and starred in both seasons of The OA, a Netflix Drama series, as Rachel. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Scuzz Sundays: OK GO – “Here It Goes Again”

May 3, 2020 — Leave a comment

Now, should I stay or should I go? OK… Go! It’s time for your new Scuzz Sundays post!

Pictured: Damian Kulash (Lead Vocals), Andy Ross (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Tim Nordwind (Bass Guitar/Keyboard), Dan Konopka (Drums/Percussion) (2010) (Photo Credit: http://www.fastcompany.com)

Good afternoon to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! It’s Sunday, so that means it’s time for another weekly edition of Scuzz Sundays, the post of the week where we take a scroll down memory lane and I pick out a pop or emo punk classic track from between the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s to put on the chopping block to see if they hold up, the likes of which would have (probably) been played on the now-defunct Scuzz TV music channel. I remember “Here It Goes Again” by OK Go being used on the Guitar Hero: On Tour video game for the Nintendo DS, but it’s also very memorable for it’s music video, which saw the band messing around on treadmills, becoming one of the first “viral video” classics in the process. The track went down as a cult classic and it reached #36 on the UK Singles Chart upon it’s release in 2005, thus gaining a little bit of mainstream attention. Ok Go are still active, but they haven’t released a new album since “Hungry Ghosts” in 2014. This track, “Here It Goes Again” was taken from their second album, “Oh No”, released in August 2005. Let’s revisit their sweaty gym workout in the fun video for “Here It Goes Again” below!

It’s one of the most charming, as well as most-viewed, viral videos of YouTube’s early history in the mid-2000’s, but does the quality of the music really live up to the memorability of the video? Unfortunately, I think it’s a rather questionable case. The sound is rooted very firmly between the “indie bollocks” rock-dance influence of Franz Ferdinand and the frenetic guitar work of The Strokes. Damian Kulash chants: “Just when you think you’re in control/Just when you think you’ve got a hold/Just when you get on a roll/Oh, here it goes again” over a three-chord pop hook created by a staggering bass guitar riff and a very pop-driven, electronically altered, lead guitar solo. Upwards of this, Hulst sings about the tendency that life has to deliver equal measures of good amongst the bad, layered above a very pop-driven guitar sound and a mildly auto-tuned delivery. The overall tone is a pop-oriented and upbeat one, with lyricism that suits the post-punk dance sound in a fine manner, but it doesn’t necessitate any provoking messages to latch onto. The hooks are minimally catchy and the pacing is very quick, but the instrumentation hugely lacks variation and the songwriting is dull, adhering to a generic pop structure, that their label have probably asked them, to follow too closely. The result is a track that isn’t too bad and it’s a fun one to look back on, but it’s not necessarily good because it doesn’t feel very unique or has much of it’s own personality, feeling too commercial and rather nothingless as a result, but it’s a fantastic video and the low production values make it very amusing.

Pictured: Cover Art and Inside Casing for a physical CD copy of “Oh No” (August 2005) (via http://www.snupps.com)

Thank you very much for reading this post! I’ll be resuming normal service on the blog tomorrow and starting off the new week with a look at the new single from a British “Indie Bollocks” pop band who had one of the highest selling debut albums of 2016 and named their band after their local pub! It is very mainstream by my usual standards, but I really like the track! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: Funkadelic – “One Nation Under A Groove”

April 28, 2020 — 1 Comment

A message of unity that is always relevant in times like these! It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “One Nation Under A Groove” (Released in September 1978) (via Warner Bros. Records)

Good morning to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and, as always, I’m writing up your daily post on the blog about a specific track because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music each day! I’m going old-school today with a classic from the Funk music love affair of the 1970’s! “One Nation Under A Groove” is an old-fashioned twirler from Funkadelic, a band with WAY too many members to really mention, but led and produced by George Clinton, a Funk musician born in North Carolina in 1941. Clinton was forever fascinated by Science Fiction and psychedelic fashion, which he draws upon for the heavier, genre-blurring sound of Funkadelic, compared to it’s sister act Parliament. Clinton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1997 and he’s considered to be one of the pioneering inventors of the Funk-Rock genre, along with the likes of Sly Stone and James Brown. One of the most notable Funkadelic releases was “One Nation Under A Groove”, the tenth album release of the project, released in 1978. It is considered one of the all-time best, appearing in the book of “100 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die” and ranking on similar lists by Vibe, Rolling Stone, NME and more. It’s forever remembered by it’s timeless messages of unity and together-ness! Let’s hear it below!

Less politically charged than some of Clinton’s other releases from Funkadelic or Parliament, but still containing important messages of social acceptance without boundaries (gender, race, sexuality), “One Nation Under A Groove” was a monumental record in getting the mainstream to understand Funk music and to appreciate black musicians in a less racially obtrusive way. It’s built, as the title implies, on a mid-tempo groove. Multiple vocalists take the mic and the band have fantastic chemistry, which connotes both the lyrical and musical messages of peace in unity. However, the tone is very positive and upbeat, rather than feeling threatening or intimidating. The drums feel very rhythmic, with some tubular bell smashes and hand claps for added percussion. The chorus is one to die for – with excellently repetitive guitar licks and the steady bass guitar chords adding more formulaic activity. The track is full of many different layers of instrumentation that, though almost indistinguishable as individual sections, flow together as a cohesive whole to form a symphonic and influential rock sound. It’s very guitar-driven, but the synthesized brass chords and the early R&B sensibilities keep the sound fresh and renewing, more than justifying it’s long eight-minute duration. Lively, eclectic and accessible. It’s impossible not to tap your feet or flail your arms around to this classic!

Pictured: George Clinton and the numerous recurring members of Funkadelic in a press shot (1976) (via CBC Radio)

Thank you for reading this post! Stay inside and wash your hands, but turn the volume up and keep on grooving! We’ll be continuing to embrace music from different cultures tomorrow with an in-depth look back at an 80’s IDM track from a Japanese composer who was one of the members of Yellow Magic Orchestra and has scored films like ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence’, ‘The Last Emperor’ and ‘The Revenant’! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: The Boomtown Rats – “I Don’t Like Mondays”

April 27, 2020 — Leave a comment

As we’re in Lockdown, I guess most of us don’t care for them! It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Bob Geldof (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Harmonica), Garry Roberts (Lead Guitar/Percussion), Pete Briquette (Bass Guitar/Keyboard) and Simon Crowe (Drums/Backing Vocals) (March 2020) (Photo Credit: Standard.co.uk)

Good Monday afternoon to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! It’s Monday, so I thought it’d be a bit ironically funny if I wrote about this track today. Known as “The Citizens Of Boomtown” from their recent album, The Boomtown Rats are an Irish new wave pop-rock group led by World Aid organizer Bob Geldof. The band had several mainstream chart hits between 1977 and 1985, before they originally called-it-splits (See what I did there?) in 1986. The band became active again with a reunion in 2013 with most of the original line-up intact, but without original keyboardist Johnnie Fingers or Gerry Cott, their original rhythm guitarist. The Boomtown Rats are still releasing new music as lately as “Citizens Of Boomtown” in March this year. “I Don’t Like Mondays” is one of their biggest classic tracks and it’s perhaps their most well-known and most popular track. It was released as a single from “The Fine Art Of Surfacing”, the band’s third album, released in 1979, which climbed up to #7 in the UK Albums Chart in 1979. The single, “I Don’t Like Mondays”, was the sixth biggest hit in the UK of 1979 and it was also the band’s second single to reach the top of the UK Singles Chart. It’s writing was inspired by a shooting spree by a 16-year-old at an Elementary School in the US, with Geldof scribbling each of the lyrics down upon an immediate return to his hotel room after hearing about it on a telex report broadcast on Georgia’s university campus radio station, WRAS, as “I Don’t Like Mondays” was the first phrase the crime’s suspect said to the news anchor. Let’s have a listen below!

A piano ballad of choice, I’m not really the world’s biggest Bob Geldof fan to be entirely truthful with you, but “I Don’t Like Mondays” is not terrible and I feel that Geldof deserves his artistic credit as a songwriter for it’s due here. It starts off with a grand piano riff, beginning the track off with a haunting tome and an old-fashioned Blues sensibility. It doesn’t delve into Americana territory, but the instrumentation is chilling before a poppier backdrop gets created by synths and a fundamentally child-like vocal performance from Geldof. Geldof tells the story of the shooting case: “The silicon chip inside her head/Gets switched to overload” before studying her internal emotions driven by a troubled home life: “and Daddy doesn’t understand it/He always said she was as good as gold”, finished off by a recurring hook: “He can see no reason because there are no reasons/What reason do you need to be shown”, before the upbeat, catchy pop hook repeats: “Tell me why, I don’t like Mondays/I want to shoot the whole day down” takes centre stage with a symphonic backing vocal. I feel the earlier half of the track, with the darker tone, is definitely the most interesting, lyrically and creatively, element in play, but the relatable hooks of the chorus and the acoustic instrumentation in the form of the basic piano keys and the neat string section. The cheerful melodies feel happy and easy to sing along with, but this tone sounds daring and superficial at times, with a more complex and psychologically twisted meaning hidden beneath the joyous piano patterns. It’s not particularly brilliant as I feel the upbeat side to the tone feels very mainstream and quite generic, but the track never feels outdated and when you listen to the lyrics from a different perspective, there’s a subtle level of hidden artifice that makes it feel more rewarding.

Pictured: The Boomtown Rats in a still image from their “I Don’t Like Mondays” music video (1979) (Taken via MTV)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as always, with an in-depth look at another classic, vintage record that was recorded during the 1970’s. This time, it’s a legendary Funk jam taken from the tenth album of a band who pursued a heavier and more psychedelic-rock driven sound to their peers and expressed a universal theme of unity and acceptance in their music… Particularly in tomorrow’s aforementioned track on the blog! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Editors – “Munich”

April 26, 2020 — Leave a comment

If you’re asking to be my Editor, you’ll be cutting a long story short! It’s Scuzz Sunday!

Pictured: Tom Smith (Lead Vocals, Piano), Russell Letch (Bass Guitar, Synths), Edward Lay (Drums), Justin Lockey (Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals) and Elliott Williams (Keyboard, Backing Vocals) (2013) (via Festileaks.com)

Good morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! If you’ve just joined me, Scuzz Sundays is the time of the week where we revisit a well-known pop-punk or emo-pop anthem from either the late 90’s or the mid 00’s, to see if it holds up, the likes of which would have been played on the defunct Scuzz rock music video channel on Freeview TV. I can never believe it’s the end of another week when it comes around! This week’s trip down memory lane is more of a post-punk tune than the ones that I may normally cover, but it’s a popular track that I can remember growing fond of at the age of 7 when it was first released in the midst of my Robot Wars obsession era. I remember a level in a Robot Wars PC game being named Munich. Anyways, “Munich” is a single released by Editors, a highly established British post-punk revival band, on their debut album – “The Back Room” – released in 2005. The band have been going for 15 years now and they released “Black Gold”, a Best-Of compilation album, last year, along with a world tour announcement. “The Back Room” wasn’t initially a big success commercially until many of the singles were re-issued in early 2006 after it got a nomination for the Mercury Prize, after being released to positive reviews, leading to a marketing push. “Munich” was one of the best, reaching the specific spot of #10 in the UK Singles Chart in January 2006! Time to take a trip to “Munich” below!

Released towards the beginning of the mainstream post-punk revival period of the mid-00’s, an 80’s synth-inspired commercial movement made popular by the likes of Lostprophets (The less said about their frontman, the better), Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, The Cribs, The Bravery and BoyKillBoy (Anyone else remember those?), I don’t think it comes as any accident that “Munich” struck a chord with casual music listeners, but that’s not to say it doesn’t deserve a fair share of artistic credit. “Munich” is based around a fast tempo and a heavy, repetitious bass guitar riff that’s easy to nod along to, along with synthesized keyboard elements. Tom Smith, the lead vocalist, chimes: “It breaks if you don’t force it/It breaks if you don’t try” and “With one hand, you calm me/With one hand, I’m still” in a cold, calculated and methodical Baritone vocal hum which sounds a little bit Leonard Cohen, but distinctive to his peers. The highlight of the track, for me, comes with the chorus, a part that’s matched by a frenetic drumming chord and a sharp electric guitar riff as Smith croons: “People are fragile things, be careful what you put them through/People are fragile things, you should know by now/You’ll speak when you’re spoken to”, lines which are delivered with a decent emotional weight to them, creating a mildly spine-chilling effect. Although Editors were at an early part of their career when “Munich” was released and they were just finding their feet as a group without truly doing much differently to the other post-punk bands in their era, it’s really just the quality of the music itself that I would point to as the reason why it has stood the test of time. The tone feels gloomy and dark, while the synthesized instrumentation adds a level of urgency and foreboding gloom to the sound. Smith’s sarcastic lyricism: “I’m so glad I found this”, adds a level of urgency to the focus on the sonic bass riffs that move away from an acoustic style. It isn’t really a groundbreaking record in terms of any utter experimentation, but the different pieces of the British, grim sound fit together very densely. The result is a great “daytime radio” track – one that feels pretty underrated.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “The Back Room” (Debut Album) (Released on 25th July, 2005) (via Kitchenware)

I have previously covered “Black Gold” by Editors on the blog here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/15/todays-track-editors-black-gold/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Black Gold: Best Of Editors” (Released on 25th October, 2019) (via PIAS Group)

Thanks for reading this post! I hope that you enjoyed this week’s edition of Scuzz Sundays! It’s business as usual tomorrow, where I’ll be kicking off the new week with a classic, that you don’t hear very often, from an Irish Rock band which had a series of big hits in the UK and Ireland when they were active between 1975 and 1986. The band had a reformation in 2013, but without two members of the band’s original line-up! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Tomo Nakayama – “Tick Tock”

April 21, 2020 — Leave a comment

The clock is ticking, hopefully, on this awful Quarantime time! It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Portrait Cover Artwork for “Pieces Of Sky” (Released on September 8th, 2017) (via Ricebelly Music)

He’d like to “Get To Know You” now! Happy Tuesday, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music on the blog to you each day! One of the most recent releases that I’ve covered on the blog lately, “Melonday” is the new LP record by Tomo Nakayama, an electronic artist signed to Ricebelly Records. Nakayama was raised in Japan, but he is currently based in California. Nakayama has a strong background in composing independent film scores and he’s also got his roots set in indie folk, as he is best known for being the leader of cinematic indie folk group Grand Hallway. “Melonday” is a surprising departure from the ambient and tranquil sounds of his previous catalogue because he’s exploring a very pop, feet-on-the-dancefloor sound, focusing on groovy disco-pop anthems, with the aid of co-producer Yuuki Matthews, who’s also worked with Teardrops and The Shins – Let’s have a listen to “Tick Tock” in the self-produced music video for it below!

On his first day of COVID-19 quarantine, Tomo Nakayama laid out a white sheet in his studio and decided to groove to the sound of “Tick Tock” to film his own music video for the track. It’s a compelling move to release a dance album while nobody is allowed to congregate for a boogie on a dancefloor. I feel that Nakayama has done as good as a job as he could have though, and I think the intimacy of this video adds a light-hearted humor that we all need in this time. Nakayama croons: “Girl in the evening gown/Where do you go when you’ve got nothing around?” and “We live in a lonely time/You’ve got your devices/I’m in service to mine” above a stuttering synth melody which shimmers and shakes over a tender backing vocal. He also comments on the dating app culture that we’ve come used to, quickly reflecting on his age and experience level when it comes to romance: “Swiping away the signs/Of growing older/But, I believe in you”, before he repeats the chorus: “Tick tock when you look at the clock/And the second hand starts to move/You look tough, but I like you a lot and I know you like me too”, a melodic synth hook that comes after a slowed, self-reflective line of interwoven synth beats. The chord progression is very propulsive, as he trades acoustic guitar strums for bright, swirling watercolor synths. It sounds very 80’s, and unashamedly so, with a clear Breakfast Club throwback style. It’s a track simply about being open and honest when it comes to finding love in the digital era, but I feel there’s a personality and maturity behind the simplicity of the surface and the part where he grabs a shoe and shimmers: “hello” with it held to his ear as a phone cracks me up. Lyrically, it’s easy and simple to follow, with kinetic hooks and catchy vocals creating a very Phoenix sound. It’s bright, ‘cutesy’ synthpop sweetness!

Pictured: Tomo Nakayama with a physical vinyl copy of “Melonday” (Released on April 7th, 2020) (via Facebook)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with an in-depth look at a recently released single which made it to John Kennedy’s X-Posure evening show playlist on Radio X! It’s the new dance project from a trio of musical icons including a former Radiohead producer, the vocalist of FEMME/lau.ra and Joey Waronker, who’s toured with REM and Beck as their live drummer. 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: Cast – “Sandstorm”

April 19, 2020 — Leave a comment

Cue the memes featuring “Sandstorm” by Darude! It’s time for a Scuzz Sundays post!

Pictured: Cast on the cover of “All Change” (1995) (Polydor Records) (Taken from http://www.merchbar.com)

“Cast” your worries away with this one! See what I did there? I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day on the blog! Every Sunday, I take you through a leisurely stroll down memory lane as we revisit some of the biggest pop-punk tracks of the late 90’s right through to the mid 2000’s, the likes of which you would have seen on the Scuzz TV rock music video channel on Freeview. Labelled as “The Who of the 90’s”, Cast are a big indie rock group from Liverpool who were formed in 1992 by John Power and Peter Wilkinson out of the ashes of The La’s and Shack, Power and Wilkinson’s previous bands who had just split up at the time. Cast became very popular commercially, as the band released their debut album “All Change” in 1995 to critical acclaim and it became the highest selling debut album for Polydor Records at the time. Oasis brother Noel Gallagher was a huge fan of the band and he described watching them perform live as a “religious experience”. Cast split up in 2004 after their fourth album “Beetroot”, which marked a departure of their sound, was a critical and commercial failure when it was released in 2001. However, Cast reunited in 2010. One of Cast’s most successful singles was “Sandstorm”, a Brit-rock track that was released as a single from their debut album in 1996. A heavy marketing push saw it get to #8 on the UK Singles Chart. Was it just a fad? Or, does it hold up? Let’s have a listen to it below and find out!

Although the band managed to Cast away their fears of commercial failures (Boom!) with a chart hit in “Sandstorm” back in ’96, you’ve got to remember that Cast were not actually a proper “indie” band because they were signed to a major label in Polydor Records, rather than releasing their own albums independently, despite having a very “indie”, guitar-driven style. Therefore, it is an example of “indie bollocks” as I call it, but I think that when you take a step back and treat “Sandstorm” more like a power-pop record instead, it does succeed fairly well and I think that it’s aged quite nicely. Power chants: “I’ve got a sandstorm blowing in my head/I’m seeing many colors/But the only one that’s coming through is red, and it’s stopping me dead” above the frantic drumming work by Keith O’ Neil and a psych-driven bass guitar riff by Wilkinson. As Power chimes: “I said oh no, I don’t even care/I guess I’ll be seeing you/I guess I’ll be leaving you today/We’re not a pair”, guitarist Liam Tyson enters the fray with a twangy guitar riff that feels obviously designed for a laddish sing-along in an intimate live venue. Power adds: “You walk me to a land, Try to understand, Are you nothing but a man?”, before a guitar solo leads us into a filler breakdown by Power on vocals to end it. It’s a cultural landmark in a time of the Brit-rock movement where Oasis were pushing “indie bollocks” to the forefront of mainstream popularity, leaving their fans hungry for more during the times when they were recording new music. Serviceably, Cast filled that void. Overall, “Sandstorm” is a very commercial record, but it has a nicely varied sound that harkens back to the 60’s era of punk, although in less daring fashion, and it feels influenced by The Who and The Clash. The backing vocals are old-school and melodic, and the entire package still sounds relatively conventional, but timeless. As an indie record, it’s “bollocks”, but as an admittedly power-pop one, it’s plain-spoken, half-decent, guitar-based pop-punk that should still manage to entertain a live crowd.

Pictured: Cast – John Power (Lead Vocals/Guitar), LIam “Skin” Tyson (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Jay Lewis (Bass Guitar/Percussion) and Keith O’ Neil (Drums) (Current band line-up) (in 2018) (Photo Credit: The Oxford Mail)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow to introduce you to a recent Spoken-Word track, released in July last year, by an Irish poet and songwriter who is currently signed to the world famous London-based label Speedy Wunderground and has published her work for over 20 years, including a fictional short story that she wrote being published in the London Review Of Books! 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: Powfu (feat. Beabadoobee) – “Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head)”

April 17, 2020 — Leave a comment

I went in a Benson’s shop today and there was a sale of 50% off everything. No wonder the beds were only three inches long then! Boom! It’s time for your new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Death Bed” (feat. Beabadoobee) (Released on 8th February 2020) (via Columbia)

I can’t believe that we’ve got to Friday already! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, as it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! Powfu is a Canadian rapper and songwriter who has recently gone viral with “Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head)”, a track which samples a track by Filipino artist Beabadoobee, a finalist of BBC’s Sound Of 2020 poll, who he credits as a featured artist on the track. It was initially released on SoundCloud last year, but it was re-released in February, eventually gaining over 150 million streams on Spotify after it was used in over 3 million clips on the video sharing app, TikTok, an app similar to SnapChat, which is down with the youth these days! Being part of the youth, I didn’t actually discover “Death Bed” through TikTok, but rather through a shared folder of tracks which my friend at my university’s student radio station shared with me. To be honest with you, I don’t use apps like TikTok or SnapChat anymore because, between you and me, I have a hatred for them! I think they’re pointless and I think that apps like that are everything wrong with society these days! Personal pet peeves aside, though, it’s clear that Powfu managed to get away from alternative territory and struck a chord with audiences in the mainstream. It’s got to #8 in the UK Singles Charts and #33 on the USA’s Billboard chart, after all! Let’s see what the fuss is about in the video below!

In the slightly similar vain of tracks like Nena’s “99 Red Balloons” and Foster The People’s “Pumped Up Kicks”, Powfu’s “Death Bed (Coffee For Your Head)” is one of the rare instances of a track that sounds fairly upbeat, but the lyrical context has a melancholic grievance to it. A suitably low-fi track sees Beabadoobee’s “Coffee”, an acoustic guitar ballad, being sampled into a recurring hook as a beat by Powfu. The video is tonally noir-ish, with Powfu rapping about his wishes to see a deceased relative, or possibly a romatic interest, who passed away. It’s told from the viewpoint of a young man on his death bed, in a literal and figurative sense. Powfu raps lyrics like “I wish it could be me, but I won’t make it out of this bed/I hope I go to heaven, so I see you once again”, later continuing: “I’ve been praying for forgiveness/I’ve been praying for my health” and “When I leave this Earth, hoping you’ll be with someone else”, before he tells her: “Soon you’ll be alone/sorry that you’ll have to lose me”, before a later stage of the track sees him provide his own backing vocals, supported by the delicate backing beat, lightly singing: “Don’t stay awake for too long/Don’t go to bed, I’ll make a cup of coffee for your head” and I think this is quietly the best ribbon on the overall package, as it feels soft, but sincere and reflective. It’s a neat touch on the production work of the track, which is decidedly laidback as Powfu allows the pitched-up sample to do the work for him, rather than modulating it with auto-tune or any other mathematically overproduced devices. The tempo is low and drowsy, reminding me of Mac DeMarco’s subtle fidelity on tracks from his 2015 record “This Old Dog”, which is DeMarco’s best record in my opinion. Back to Powfu, I’m quite fond of this track because the storytelling is poignant and it has a graceful effect, with a poetic and reflective style that is simple, but effective. I think the track’s in danger of getting overplayed now that it’s become a commercial hit and following it’s success, he’s just signed to Columbia, a risky venture since it’s one of the most commercial labels out there, so I’m feeling skeptical about his future work, but I like this track. It’s my kind of hip-hop because it’s based around an effective sample, it hasn’t been electronically altered by nonsense and there’s a decent level of artistic expression here. It’s non-violent and he isn’t trying to just sound like everybody else to get a hit, although he’s ended up with it being one. See, I don’t hate all chart music!

Pictured: Beabadoobee in August 2019 (via Wikipedia)

Thank you for reading this post! Don’t forget that in two days time, we’ll be taking a trip down pop-punk memory lane with our weekly Scuzz Sundays feature! Before then, please make sure that you check back with the blog tomorrow as I’ll be introducing you to an unknown group who I’ve only recently been introduced to myself! – a duo from Germany who are named after a certain pest that you may find in your Garage or your Attic! 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 Cribs – "Men's Needs"

April 12, 2020 — 1 Comment

Don’t worry, The Easter Bunny will come – he’s a ‘key worker’! It’s time for a new post!

Pictured: Gary Jarman (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar), Ryan Jarman (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Ross Jarman (Drums/Percussion) (in August 2017) (Photo Credit: Phil Smithies for DIYmag.com)

That’s right.. It’s time for your new Scuzz Sundays blog post! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, wishing you a happy Easter weekend, as we take a stroll down memory lane and look at one of the landmark records of the pop-punk era of the late 1990’s-mid 2000’s! Since it’s a holiday, I thought that we’d revisit a right classic for your first Scuzz Sundays post in a fortnight! Considered to be one of Britain’s biggest cult bands, sibling post-punk rock group The Cribs were particularly successful during the late 00’s with their third LP record, “Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever”, which they unleashed in 2007 on the Wichita Recordings label in the UK (and Warner Bros. in the US)! The Yorkshire 3-piece were endorsed by ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who became a full-time member between 2008 and 2011. The group’s sound was heard as a core benchmark of like-minded UK bands in the alternative rock movement of the time, with notable comparisons being popularized by the likes of Cast, The Editors and The Libertines. In 2012, the group were given the Spirit Of Independence award at the Q Awards. The band are still rather successful, commercially and critically, to this day, with each of the band’s last four albums reaching the top ten of the UK Albums Chart in first-week sales. In popular culture, “Men’s Needs” is their most notable tune and also their most radio-friendly, eventually winding up at #17 in the UK Singles Charts! Let’s revisit the indie anthem “Men’s Needs” with it’s video below!

A track that aims to appeal to a more general audience than The Cribs’ older tortured teen anthems, “Men’s Needs” is just as crisp in it’s production work as ever. Gary Jarman brandishes his thick talk-speech delivery in the track’s repeating vocal hook: “Have you noticed/I’ve never been impressed/By your friends from New York and London?”, while guitarist Ryan Jarman shreds a sharp stab of throbbing guitar riffs, with repetition being key. Gary’s vocals have a raspy undertone, as he shouts: “Man’s needs/Man’s needs, are fond of greed/A man’s needs, a man’s needs/are lost on me”, delivered in a evidently punk, Kurt Cobain-esque pitch. The track later peaks with a flurry of guitar riffs that feel as melodic as a solo possibly could, with the laddish chanting style being converted into a purely Americana-based, sparkling bass guitar riff. It somewhat feels like a cross between The Manic Street Preachers and Portishead, with a decidedly pop-punk layer of gloomy vocals and constant guitar rock direction, with a modern accessibility, being matched with New Wave undercurrents that feel ostensibly British indie rock, conveyed by the energetic attitude of the tense and compact, slightly electronic, drum notes. The overall sound is very contemporary of it’s time, with The Strokes and The Courteeners seeming to be clear influencers of the guitar-driven sound. The result is a track that’s easy to digest and easy to tolerate – with a radio-friendly appeal – but I don’t think that it’s without it’s little share of artistic merit. The bridges are sturdy enough to work as choruses and the sound is not shameful in looking to it’s punk-roots past in order to deliver a modern, but not futuristic, sound to drive it forward as the new. It’s fine, with nothing inherently being wrong about it – but it did something fresh and progressive within the confines of the pop-punk genre at the time so I feel it holds up in the sense that I can see why it struck a ‘chord’ with audiences. See what I did there?

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever” (released in 2007) (via Wichita Recordings)

Don’t forget to catch up with my WWE WrestleMania 36 Weekend Special if you missed out – Friday’s post, “El Santo: The Silver Masked Avenger” by The Nick Atoms, is here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/03/wwe-wrestlemania-36-weekend-special-the-nick-atoms-el-santo-the-silver-masked-avenger/. Saturday’s post on Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler”, is here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/04/wwe-wrestlemania-36-weekend-special-bruce-springsteen-the-wrestler/. The weekend’s final post on “The Legend Of Chavo Guerrero” by The Mountain Goats can be perused here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/05/wwe-wrestlemania-36-weekend-special-the-mountain-goats-the-legend-of-chavo-guerrero/!

Pictured: The Cribs (Gary, Ryan & Ross Jarman) with Ex-Smiths lead guitarist Johnny Marr (2011) (via Wegow.com)

Thank you for reading this post! I hope that you enjoyed it and that you have a nice Easter weekend given the current circumstances. Above all, HE HAS RISEN!!! Make sure that you check back with the blog tomorrow (Yes, that’s Easter Monday) as we’ll be taking the chance to revisit a classic track from an English musician who decided to “Stop The Calvary” with his historically-themed festive hit in 1980, a track which reached #3 in the UK Singles Chart and still gets airplay on radio stations around Christmas and New Year’s every year – but we won’t be listening to the track that you’re thinking of! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

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