Way Back Wednesdays: Talk Talk – “Eden”

September 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Spirit Of Eden’ (Released on September 16th, 1998) (via Parlophone Records)

Good Afternoon to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to revisit one of the seminal sounds of the past that proved influential to those of the present for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week, for our feature, we’re looking back at the 80’s London-formed Synth Pop group Talk Talk, who you may have noticed circulating around some news circles, in publications like Pitchfork and KEXP, and that’s because the Art Rock trio’s 1991 LP release, ‘Laughing Stock’ is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary year since its original release. Their magnum opus, however, is more widely considered to be 1988’s ‘Spirit Of Eden’, which was absolutely showered with critical praise upon release following a long recording process at Wessex Studios. It was quite different to their more accessible hits – like 1985’s ‘Life’s What You Make It’ – in the sense that it drew from improvisational elements of Ambient, Blues, Classical Jazz and Dub music, and the LP made an appearance on NME’s list of ‘The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time’ back in 2013, despite receiving a muted commercial response due to it’s experimental approach at the time. In a tragic turn of events, we lost Talk Talk’s frontman Mark Hollis in 2019, but bassist Paul Webb and drummer Lee Harris have continued to work in the business as producers, and they have collaborated on a few seperate projects as a duo. ‘Spirit Of Eden’ was seen as one of the very early Post-Punk records, and it has been cited by contemporary groups like Elbow, Radiohead and Explosions In The Sky as a major influence on their output. Check out the fan-favourite piece, ‘Eden’, below.

Sadly, the daring and moody nature of 1988’s ‘Spirit Of Eden’ made Talk Talk a difficult act for their label, the Virgin-owned EMI Records division, to promote. When Hollis first sent a demo of the now-beloved LP to his producers, they doubted that it could become a commercial success and the band refused to tour in support of the album due to the difficulty of performing the tracks live, and, therefore, some friction was created with EMI, eventually resulting in legal action and counter-suing later on. The record did still, however, spend five weeks on the UK Albums Chart and it peaked at #19 there. It is a shame, then, that ‘Spirit Of Eden’ can also be argued as a catalyst for the band’s disbandment that was eventually confirmed in 1991 because, when you listen to ‘Eden’, it is easy to find the intriguing mix of textured guitars, pastoral electronic textures, an emphasis on dynamic transitions and fades between sounds, ambience and lovely minimalist elements that are heard as part of the equation breathtaking. ‘Eden’ is not marketable rubric, but it has an intellect that sets it apart from the mainstream tactics of the time. Vague lyrics like “Rage On Omipotent’ have a biblical charge, delivered with a wide-eyed voice that reminds me of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, as opposed to the more pop-friendly style of Duran Duran. Lyrics like “A child of fragrance so much clearer/In legacy” are just as hushed and restrained, and certainly open to further interpretation by the listener as either an embodiment of inner peace, or more alike to a haunting emotion. Either way, it boasts a sense of cinematic grandeur and Post-Rock minimalism that places a large emphasis on the large emotional pull that resides in the use of silence. There’s a harsh, yet thrilling, rupture of a lead guitar hook towards the end of the track, which also boasts a free-spirited feel and a free-form personality that marks another unexpected burst of both subtlety and discordant attitude. All in all, it’s a stunning piece of work that is a unique track – and a peculiar album – for several interesting reasons. A frail and challenging, yet a distinctive and rewarding, listen which simply dared to be different.

Pictured: Mark Hollis (Lead Vocals/Guitar/Piano), Paul Webb (Bass Guitar), Simon Brenner (Synths/Rhythm Guitar) and Lee Harris (Drums) (1982) (Photo via Michael Putland/Getty Images)

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me today and supporting my independent journalism, and please feel free to join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at a London-based producer who is gearing up to release a new album next month on BMG. He cleverly combines elements of Funk, Prog-Jazz, Neo-Soul and Hip-Hop into his repertoire, and he first emerged onto the UK’s Grime scene in 2007 with ‘The 140 Mixtape’. He has since collaborated with acts like Terri Walker, Flowdan and P Money.

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Today’s Track: Kozmodrum – “Wormhoooooooooole…”

August 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and now is the time for me to pollute your ears with another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day! This is a shortened week of project work for me on the blog this week, and so I’ll be going away for my sister’s wedding during the week, but I still wanted to sneak ‘Wormhole’ in, and this new one comes from a Croatian 5-piece group called Kozmodrum. Exploring Dub, Techno and House, the quintet have found success in their domestic market and they seem to be looking to gain new fans overseas with the release of their self-titled third full-length album, back in June, via Rika Muzika. Describing their sound as “Organic House Music”, the band use the framework of a DJ set by producing electronic compositions that were designed to be played openly, where they loop beats until a cue point is given to indicate a switch to another part. On Facebook, they pitch this as “Jazz-infused Post-Rock meets Ambient Electronica meets Tech House with a percussion twist”, and that sounds really good to me. A 5-piece led by a classically trained drummer – Janko Novoselić – Kozmodrum won a Porin Award (The Croatian equivalent to the BRIT’s) for their second LP, ‘Gravity’, released in 2017. I was really pleased that John Ravenscroft introduced me to this project on BBC Radio 6 Music a number of weeks ago because it’s been growing on me ever since. Check out the lead single of the band’s new album, ‘Wormhole’, below.

Kozmodrum cites Tycho and Elektro Guzzi as their stylistic influences for their new record, and they told Twisted Soul, “After our first two albums, that were each very different in their own way – the first one being an exploration of Jazz/Fusion moods and the second veering toward more electronic/ambient atmospheres – this album is the most truthful representation of how we really sound live” in their own promo message. ‘Wormhole’ is a tune that was being developed over the space of five years until it reached its final form that you can hear on the new LP, and this tireless dedication to their own craft clearly shows in the meticulous structuring and the layers that build throughout the track. The six-minute duration seems to be on the longer side of things, but the instrumentation is paced nicely and it feels packed neatly considering the various Drum, Synth, Keyboard and Bass sequences in play. There’s no vocals, just pretty guitar melodies and splashings of rumbling Bass that gets a light-hearted tone across, and the animated music video adds nicely to the hand-woven aesthetic of the overall proceedings. As you would expect for a mix between Jazz and non-traditional Dance music, there is a fairly minimalist start to things before the different layers keep building and then evolving to form new loops, creating some sublime electronic grooves that have a bright warmth to them in the process. More complex, fragmented and harmonic Synth sounds follow in the later stages and small elements of Prog-Jazz and Math-Rock are evoked through the specific timing schemes. I really like how the track takes cues from Nu-Jazz, non-traditional Punk and experimental Electronic music to do something unique with the instruments being used, and the resulting sound is a blissful and chilled affair that is never afraid to throw some rougher sounds into the mixture. Once established, the grooves bump and slither their way through a Psychedelic concoction of genres that just slips neatly into your ears and keeps you actively listening out for the chord changes at the same time because they feel interesting and carefully textured. In summary, it is a lovely listen and definitely worthy of more ears than it’s been getting.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Kozmodrum’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on June 25th, 2021) (via Rika Muzika)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you for reaching this historic part of the day for me, and please feel free to join me again tomorrow as we do it all over again. I’ll be supporting more music from a lesser-known artist in John Peel style again as we take a detour into some DIY Hip-Hop production. My next pick comes from a 30-year-old rapper from South East London who has based his new album, ‘Section 1’, on the tragedies that have all defined his twenties, such as mental health struggles and familial loss. It’s a hard-hitting listen that demands your hearing.

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Today’s Track: 파란노을 (Parannoul) – “아름다운 세상 (Beautiful World)”

August 12, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: VHS tape for ‘To See The Next Part Of The Dream’ (February 23, 2021) (via Bandcamp.com)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – and the time has come for me to deliver your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We’ve certainly been familiarizing ourselves, musically, with a good variety of different cultures this week, and my latest recommendation takes you to South Korea for cryptic Shoegaze sounds. ‘Beautiful World’ comes from Parannoul, a very enigmatic young adult musician who describes themselves as “just a student writing music in my bedroom” and, as of May 2021, the brains behind the operation remains anonymous. We do not know their name, age, their history, relationship status or whether their music is created with anyone else’s involvement. He has released another album, 2020’s ‘Let’s Walk On The Path Of A Blue Cat’, but 2021’s ‘To See The Next Part Of The Dream’ has been his true breakout. He previously gained a cult following on websites like Reddit and RateYourMusic, with his latest album earning positive reviews from publications like Pitchfork, Stereogum and Consequence Of Sound when it was self-released in February, before it later arrived on streaming services in April. Pitchfork.com’s Ian Cohen wrote, “The lo-fi Shoegaze project from the Seoul musician is a rare find. The ambitious and alluring music expertly captures the feeling of a sound so uncannily familiar that it truly feels like a dream” in his 8/10. In my own experience, the record has eventually grown to become one of my top favourite albums of the year so far. Telling the plot of a down-on-his-luck 21-year-old aspiring musician with the creative mind of a wide-eyed child, but no real ability to play instruments, the record is a homage to the push and pull of youth – the desire to become something greater than you are, but feeling like this success is perpetually out of your reach. Just go ahead – and give ‘Beautiful World’ a spin below.

The text accompanying Parannoul’s new release on Bandcamp finds them describing themselves as an “active loser”, “below average in height, appearance and everything else”, with “singing skills [that] are f***ing awful”, among other harsh self-judgments, and the artist is never afraid to pull from anime culture for the odd reference, like ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’, in his lyrics. Using heavy distortion to manufacture a fantasy world, ‘Beautiful World’ finds him struggling with self-doubt and, in a strangely implicated way, raising a toast to the character’s shortcomings to honor his misery. Lyrics roughly translate to lines like “I wish my young and stupid days to disappear forever/My precious relationships, now they’re just in my memories” that feel bleak and depressive on paper, but the melodicism is almost overwhelming when the frenetic guitars combat against the seemingly spellbinding pedal effects. There’s hints of Emo, Goth and K-Pop music in the Synths aplenty, with invigorating guitar riffs and obscured vocals which add emotional depth to the atmosphere through the manifested feelings of nostalgia and outgrowing your location. Lines like “I wish no one had seen my miserable self/I wish no one had seen my numerous failures” take jabs at self-worth and pressure from older adults to succeed in life, while other lyrics, like “I go to a sense of a sense/Let’s block two eyes and two ears again” take shots at embracing your individuality and seeking pleasure in how your unique mind may work very differently to your peers, harnessing these skills and talents for a larger purpose. This encapsulation of adolescent angst is complemented, perfectly, with the vicious Math-Rock drum patterns towards the end. These clashing, aggressive sounds build a sense of both melancholy and melodrama, feeling every bit as powerful or disorienting as they should, given the very specific subject matter of the vocals. The vocals also wisely take cues from Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine in the ways they feel tricky to decipher because it builds a higher sense of tension, while also reminding us that the mood is the crucial part of the track, and the words almost struggle to need relevancy to find importance above the tone. On the whole, it is a truly fantastic look at the hopelessness of the modern youth and the systematic obstacles faced by young adults in politics and employment, and this is all captured with spectacularly Shoegaze finesse. The ‘who’ and the ‘how’ simply aren’t necessary.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘To See The Next Part Of The Dream’ (Released on February 23, 2021) (via POCLANOS)

That brings us to the end of the page – and thank you for sticking your neck out with me for another day. Please feel free to reconvene with me again tomorrow, as we delve into one of the weekend’s biggest new album releases. This brings our globe-trotting trip full circle as we return to England for some Americana, Country and Folk-inflicted indie rock from Hexham, Northumberland. The artist is a familiar face on the blog, a 21-year-old singer-songwriter who went to the BRIT’s School in Croydon and won ‘International Breakthrough Artist’ at the AIM Independent Music Awards in 2019.

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Today’s Track: Crumb – “Trophy”

July 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

I won’t be winning any trophies for the puns that I have for my slogan. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Ice Melt’ (LP) (Released on April 30th, 2021) (via Crumb Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and we’re picking up the pace with another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Thursday’s tune comes to you from the Brooklyn-based musicians Crumb, a female-led indie Psych-Rock quartet led by Lila Ramani. The group have garnered huge support from critics since forming in 2016, with Paste Magazine describing their sound as a meld of “60s Psych, loose Jazz, and freeform Indie Rock into a soothing Pop amalgamation”. The 4-piece band met while studying at Tufts University on the Northern borders of Medford and Somerville in Massachusetts in the US, before they started to divide their time between Boston and New York, distributing their first two EP’s with limited vinyl runs and cassette stock released by DIY label Citrus City Records. The band have now gone fully independent, self-releasing their latest LP, ‘Ice Melt’, this past April via Crumb Records. The follow-up to 2019’s ‘Jinx’, their second full-length record was allegedly named after the blend of coarsely ground salts used to dissipate ice on your front steps, by absorbing water and giving off heat, that you can get in US hardware shops. Check out ‘Trophy’ below.

The mysterious Dark-Pop band have enlisted the help of Haoyan Of America to direct the music video for ‘Trophy’, a surrealist visual affair that seems to tap into something supernatural aesthetically for the surrealist quality of the music itself, as the skewed rock elements of the track are paired with opening visuals of an award ceremony, a jolt through a racers’ podium, and a monstrous bunch of animated, living trophies singing away. It’s a suitable accompaniment to the enigmatic sound of ‘Trophy’ itself, which reminds me of the 00’s ‘Chillout’ compilations of slowed down dance remixes and some reworked popular culture songs that my grandmother rarely used to buy. Ramani’s lead vocals have a slow, gliding effect where the use of echo and reverb tell a wistful tale about, as she sings, a “deadbeat tour loner”, in her own words. The soft Keyboard riffs, the electric Jazz/Rap-leaning instrumental bassline, and the persistent Cymbal melodies give the sound an uplifted, yet whimsical and slightly Dark element. Like the most strange dream that you could occasionally have, there is only a sort-of logical sense to things, with a slick 90’s Avant-Rock sound which combines relaxed electronics and deep guitars in a way that feels soothing on the surface, but begins to show a more haunting side as you settle deeper. The lyrics, with a cryptic series of quotes like “The test it came back said you’re prone to, Chew yourself right to the bone, I guess you don’t like to be alone” and “Take your time ’cause it’s all over/You’re a deadbeat doll loner” add an airy harmony to the gradually evolving field, but there’s also a gently irreverent sense of humor to them, as they pay homage to Math-Rock and Prog-Rock with their tongue set firmly in their cheek at brief times. Finally, the distorting vocals of the post-bridge go for a rougher and Grunge-influenced edge. On the whole, it’s an intriguing mix of 90’s Alt-Rock songwriting and a loosely springing effect of instrumentation that tickles the cells of your brain as the studio-tinkered chords craft up a dread-filled space around you, and it’s working very well, which is mostly down to Ramani’s reserved, nocturnal vocals and a decent sense of chemistry between the band in connecting their ideas. An auditory feast for your pillow at night.

Pictured: Lila Ramani (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Jesse Brotter (Bass Guitar/Unclean Vocals), Bri Aronow (Keyboard/Saxophone) and Jonathan Gilad (Drums/Percussion) (2019) (Photo by Shan Khan)

That’s it for another day! Just like always, it’s ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow, and so we will be tasting one of this weekend’s biggest new album releases, and so please get caught up with me on the site then for more recommended listening. Eight years in the making, this week’s top album pick marks another collaboration in the unlikely side project of the very prolific Chilean-American composer Nicolas Jaar and the Brooklyn-born multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington from the Psych band ARMS.

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New Album Release Friday: Squid – “Paddling”

May 7, 2021 — Leave a comment

The latest to have Inked a deal with Britain’s most experimental label. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Bright Green Field” (LP) (Released on May 7th, 2021) (via Warp Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to read 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! The never-ending cycle of ‘New Release Friday’ has arrived once again, with this week’s calendar being filled with the first posthumous release from the late MF Doom, who has collaborated with Czarface once more before his tragic passing early in the year. Student Radio indie darling Alfie Templeman and YouTuber Dodie also vie for attention, along with Copenhagen Punk progressors Iceage, and a new 1980’s Hard Rock-inspired fifteenth go-around from the notably inconsistent Weezer also hitting store shelves. Squid marks the first entry of the new summer Blockbuster season, however, a Brighton-bred Prog-Rock band with more undefinable genre qualities than you can shake a Vinyl at. Since releasing their debut EP on Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground and later signing to Warp Records, the home of groundbreaking UK experimenters like Aphex Twin and Boards Of Canada of top-tier status, Squid have generated a ton of buzz on the internet and with the music press. I personally haven’t been on that particular bandwagon because I often find it harder to connect with artists who have generated this level of acclaim, but I’ve heard the odd single here and there to decent impressions. I saw them in ‘On The Road’, a 2020 documentary about Independent Venue Week, where the lads proudly talked about beating a dustbin lid with an Asparagus. Their debut full-length album, ‘Bright Green Field’ arrives today, and it sees the band turn to Dan Carey for production work once again. Let’s watch them perform their latest sampler, ‘Paddling’, at SXSW below.

Producer Dan Carey has helped affiliated acts like Black Country New Road, Fontaines DC and Sinead O’Brien to succeed in recent times, and Squid’s ringleader, Ollie Judge, told Exclaim! in an interview that Bright Green Field’s tracks “Illustrate the places, events and architecture that exist within the album”. While earlier singles were quirky and driven by characters, tracks like ‘Paddling’ aim for a darker variation of moods, deepening the emotional depth of Squid’s pre-established sound. ‘Paddling’ is more concerned about the theme of Place, with the lyrics being about the reactions of feeling thrust into the adult world, as adolescent friends suddenly turn their focus to employability. A low-key opening gradually builds to a more instructive mood, as Judge recites lines like “Patient and in control/Dig holes like a mole” and “There are people inside, And they’re changing in shape and size” as he laments his companions never wanting to ‘just have fun’ anymore, built on a drum machine instrumental and accompanied by the call-and-response vocals and the well-executed key changes. Propulsive bass guitar beats and evolving bitterness in the vocals add new layers to the gradually evolving soundscape of confused moods. A suitable helping of “Don’t push me in” unfolds a less playful and more settled 00’s Post-Punk or Indie Guitar band sound, but the song’s structure remains wildly unconventional, as a 6-minute duration of building instrumentals and abstract tempo increases adds a more melodic thrust to the finale. It certainly isn’t a project with commercial accessibility near the top of the listed priorities, and the new album is said to have featured very experimental recording techniques like using a swinging microphone in a room of guitar amps. This all contributes well to the underlying mood of confusion, where it clearly feels like a ‘Lost Boy’ is behind the steering wheel. It refrains from feeling self-indulgent or too exhausting though, because the production clearly calls back to DIY roots in it’s very inception instead of seeming pretentious, and so Warp Records is a great fit for them because of it’s creative freedom and well-regarded academic status. Overall, releases like ‘Paddling’ are re-inforcing Squid as a memorable and distinctive act to follow. A breed of invention that can be rare to come across in this day and age.

Pictured: Ollie Judge (Lead Vocals/Drums), Louis Borlase (Lead Guitar/Bass Guitar), Arthur Leadbetter (Keyboard), Laurie Nankviel (Brass) & Anton Pearson (Backing Vocals) (2020) (Photo by Xenia Owens)

That’s all for now – Thank you for reading and reaching the end of my daily rambles. I’ve already got plans for tomorrow, as we take an in-depth look at the return of one of my low-key favourite young artists, who previously made the best single I’ve ever heard that is primarily about wearing wigs. This French-born Belgian-Carribean musician has toured with Neneh Cherry, and contributed vocals to the soundtrack of the 2016 film ‘Belgica’ that was scored by her close friend, Soulwax. 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: Black Country, New Road – “Track X”

April 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

X-Men, X-Rated, Xtr-emely good, or reminiscent of the X-Factor? Time for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Art for “For The First Time” (LP) (Released on February 5, 2021) (via Ninja Tune)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Have you eaten all of your Easter Eggs yet? If not, here’s a few minutes to indulge along to. ‘Track X’ comes from the fresh Math-Rock and Prog-Rock (It’s tricky to label their sound under a specific category), London band Black Country, New Road, who seem to be one of the most hotly-tipped new alternative music projects in quite a long time. Their early singles generated a ton of rave reviews, and the release of their debut long-player – ‘For The First Time’ – was absolutely hyped up to the hills prior to it’s release in February on Ninja Tune. The Quietus even thought they were “the best band in the world” leading to it’s release. It is less of a group per-say, and more of a 7-piece collective of young creatives mixing Post-Punk guitar riffs with classical, orchestral instrument sections. Usually when a release gets this eagerly anticipated over, I wait for a few months before I take any focused listens. That’s just because I often feel that rave reviews, or even universally negative ones, usually sway your pre-conceptions. It can be a tricky thing to navigate, where there’s no right or no wrong, but I’m ready now to unpeel the skin of these layers. Made from stock footage, check out the video for ‘Track X’ below.

“Never made it out into one of our live performances – We decided to resurrect it during the recording of ‘For The First Time’ and assemble it into the studio. The story is old, but a good one and worth telling” is what the pen man Isaac Wood had to say about the story of ‘Track X’. One fun fact about BCNR is that violinist Georgia Ellery, from the Warp Records signed duo Jockstrap, is a part of their line-up. Now, I am a huge fan of Georgia and that water-tight little project, and so that’s how I first found my way to them. BCNR have also been known to play around with Jewish Klezmer music for their atmosphere-oriented output, although ‘Track X’ feels like a more subdued and relaxed affair. A set of confessional lyrics, matched to Reichian percussion and a dreamscape of equal Strings and Saxophones, ‘Track X’ is a slowly unveiling ballad about finding romance in the UK’s DIY gig scene. Lyrics like “You’ve got great hips, I’ve been shaking ever since” and “In your name, in the same room where we f****ed as kids” have an earnest and unsettling feel, but the folk-inspired female backing vocals counteract this dry crooner delivery with a soothing, relaxed tone. The wry vocals are also referential to the band and their stories themselves, with lines like “I told you I loved you in front of Black Midi” and “I tried my best to stay afloat, after I sacrificed the goat” that each feel like inside jokes, giving the vocals an intimate touch (Black Midi being the name of another hugely popular DIY band in the UK). When I read that a release has been this mulled over as “the next big thing” by critics and people in general, I often find them difficult to connect with because it doesn’t always feel personal to me. In the case of BCNR, this is partially true. I find the rhythms don’t really go anywhere and the themes being explored in the songwriting feel a bit jumbled, and pinballed around the place at points. However, I’ve read many times that a truly great album should always be a snapshot or document of the artist at that place in time, and BCNR manage to do this quite comfortably. Albeit disfigured and left to the listener to fill in the blanks due to the vagueness of lines like “I guess, in some way”, there’s a straight essence of who they are that I can latch onto, although I can’t claim to fully understand everything that was going on. It feels very articulate, with a solid emphasis on how it makes you feel. So, overall, you know what – not bad.

Pictured: Isaac Wood (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Georgia Ellery (Violin), Tyler Hide (Bass Guitar), Charlie Wayne (Drums/Percussion), Lewis Evans (Saxophone), May Kershaw (Keyboard/Synths/Backing Vocals) and Luke Mark (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals) (2020) (Photo via Max Grainger/TheGuardian.com)

I guess, in some way – That line wraps up everything I’ve come here to do today. I’ve got another special weekend of unusual posts on the way from Saturday onwards, but, until then, we’ve got another ‘Way Back Wednesday’ to burst through. It’s another Easter-themed track, which didn’t previously make the cut. It’s related to the festival pretty closely, however, and it comes from a wildly successful Irish rock band who have strung their fans along past “The Edge” of a whopping 150-170 million sales globally, and have won a total of 22 Grammy Awards, known for their elaborate live tours in the 80’s and 90’s. 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: Dry Cleaning – “Scratchcard Lanyard”

February 2, 2021 — Leave a comment

Following a year that was virtually a big wash-out for big celebrations. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Scratchcard Lanyard” (Single) (Released on November 19th, 2020) (via 4AD)

Good Morning to you! I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s, once again, time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, since it’s routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music. Dry Cleaning”s latest track has been absolutely blowing up with the 6Music crowd of listeners, and if you haven’t ever heard of this new act before, they are a 4-piece Post-Rock group from London, who formed after each of the members’ prior bands crossed paths in the UK’s capital. Led by female singer-songwriter Florence Shaw, the band are also comprised of lead guitarist Lewis Maynard, bassist Tom Dowse and drummer Nick Buxton. Their influences include The B-52’s (of “Love Shack” fame), Pylon, The Feelies and The Necessaries – and the band’s releases so far include 2019’s debut EP, “Sweet Princess” and last March’s critically-lauded EP, “Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks”. The band have recently signed up to the well-reviewed 4AD indie label, and to mark this career milestone, the band released “Scratchcard Lanyard”, joined with it’s brilliant music video directed by Luke Brooks and James Theseus Black. Let’s check them out below.

The video for “Scratchcard Lanyard” has to be one of my favourites for a single in quite a while, and it’s hard to believe that it’s only the directorial debut for it’s pair. If you’ve ever heard any of Dry Cleaning’s previous material before, you’ll be prepared to expect the unexpected – with accentuated post-punk guitar riffs and the jumbled wordplay of subtle humor that’s lacking in much context. The band say that Dry Cleaning is based on “In the search of your true calling in life, It’s easy to try so many things that you end up confused”, deciding on “Ephemeral things and small-size escapist experiences can provide some relief” for the theme of the track. The ideas of seeking identity and following socialist norms are explored with dry humor in the track, where Shaw spits lines like “I’ve come to learn how to mingle, I’ve come to learn how to dance, I’ve come to join the knitting circle” and “I think of myself as a hardy banana, with that waxy surface and the small delicate flowers” over the top of the same, detached guitar and drum melodies. Although these experiences discussed in the lyrics are mildly relatable, the sentiments are delivered with an often deadpan delivery, where random refrains like “Pat Dad on the head, Alright you big load mouth, Thanks very much for the Twix” and “I’ve come to make a ceramic shoe, and I’ve come to smash what you made” keeping the gag count high throughout these Spoken Word-like sections. One thing I’ve noticed is the first half of the track is more based around fairly petty hobbies, while Shaw’s image becomes a more violent one in the later sections of the track. The deadpan hiss at the end, for instance, and the lines of “That’s just child chat, Why don’t you want oven chips now?” ring through the stylish Post-Punk tuneage. Overall, it’s almost like you’ve just walked into a band practice where the line-up are able to telepathically read the minds of the passersby on the streets outside, with very specific and dis-affectionately designed refrains creating an unsettling, although amusing, quality. Overall, this is a brilliantly witty and stylishly composed Post-Industrial track where anything along the lines of Rio De Janeiro bouncing balls and women in aviators firing a Bazooka goes. Some may want the lyrics to have a little more context, but the humor would be lost in the process, matched to a punchy beat. That’s just child chat – and thanks very much for the Twix!

Pictured: Florence Shaw (Lead Vocals/Writer), Lewis Maynard (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Tom Dowse (Bass Guitar) and Nick Buxton (Drums/Percussion) (2020) (Photo Credit: Hanna-Katrina Jedrosz)

That completes the line-up for today! Please feel free to join me again tomorrow, as we take to our recently added new feature, “Way Back Wednesdays”, for inspiration. This week’s dive into the archives serves as an introduction for you (and my mother… who is an avid reader of the blog each single day) to the Icelandic Post-Punk group from the capital city of Reykjavik who housed the cultural icon, Bjork, as it’s singer. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – “Y-Control”

January 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

There’s all the murder she wrote today! Of course, I’m not willing to let you down tomorrow. Check back in with me again then – where we’re going to be going for a similar style of distorted guitar riffs and emotionally driven, harsh songwriting – albeit from an emerging, hot-off-the-press act. This single comes from an indie trio from Worthing who like describe their own sound as “mosh-pit worthy noise for the paranoid age”, and their single, “So What”, was featured on the soundtrack for the recent Ubisoft open-world video game “Watch Dogs Legion”. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

New Album Release Fridays: Shame – “Water In The Well”

January 15, 2021 — Leave a comment

I have never been on the bandwagon of this genre – so Shame on me? New post time.

Pictured: Eddie Green (Lead Guitar), Charlie Steen (Lead Vocals), Charlie Forbes (Drums/Percussion), Sean Coyle Smith (Rhythm Guitar) and Josh Finerty (Bass Guitar) (in 2020) (Photo via DIYMag.com/PR)

A Shameful excuse for missing out? Good Morning, I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up on the blog with today’s daily entry – because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day. It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for some brand new music releases. This week finds admittedly not much seeing the light of day, however, one high-profile album has been released today by Shame. Shame are a South London-formed Post-Punk band, in a similar vein to Fontaines DC and The Murder Capital, who have received lots of love from publications like NME, Paste and Clash. BBC Radio 6Music are big fans, and I’ve heard a few of Shame’s singles over the months through their rotation. “Drunk Tank Pink” is the title of the new LP, and it’s the follow-up to “Songs Of Praise”, their debut album, released in 2018. The band’s frontman, Charlie Steen, wanted to go bigger and bolder for the sound of the new record, and so the quintet enlisted the help of James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco, The Last Shadow Puppets) to make the magic happen in the studio. Although not quite as much of a critical win as their debut, the reviews are indicating that the new album will make a good soundtrack for your weekend. The latest single is “Water From The Well”, which comes with an accompanied music video directed by Pedro Takahashi. Let’s sample the track below.

There’s no Shame (Alright…I’ll give it a rest now) in enjoying the new aggressive revivalist era of old-school Post Punk, as indicated by the clear popularity and success of groups like Idles and Bambara, but, to be honest with you, it’s never been a world that I’ve been a part of, and so I find it difficult to connect with this style. The writing of the new record was a thoughtful process though, as Steen suggests: “For this album, I was so bored of playing guitar. The thought of even playing it was mind-numbing, so I started to write and experiment in all these alternative tunings and not write or play in a conventional ‘rock’ way”, in the album’s press notes. It gets reflected in “Water In The Well” in the sense of, although still guitar-driven, the verses have a little more open space for the instrumentation to play around with. Steen sings: “I tried to call you late last night, I heard you shiver, I gave you a fright” over the top of discordant cymbals and layered percussion. The chorus swoops for a more anthemic vibe, as Steen chants: “Caught in my ways, This is the last time acid dad” and “Stuff in the wind, They’re just a preacher, They’re just a savior” above a characteristically riotous sound. They finally pay off the build to the final bridge with a sharp-edged bass guitar line, and a confident mix into the scattered bits of percussion. Steen’s vocal performance is quite good here – it’s playful, and he mixes a clear love for Gang Of Four and Talking Heads into his influences, and the stop-and-start nature of the pacing. On the minus side, it’s coming across as a little too laddish and just a bit too heavy for my liking, although I feel it’s style is more nuanced than Fontaines DC, for instance. Overall, it’s not really showing too much appeal for me because it’s not a sound that I’ve ever really “gotten”, but it’s a little bit better than some of their contemporaries, and so I would probably suggest taking a listen if you are a fan of Idles or Silverbacks, but it’s just unfortunately not a sound that connects up with me.

Pictured: Shame in a promo photoshoot for “Drunk Tank Pink” (2020) (Photo via readdork.com)

Thank you for reading my latest blog post! Scuzz Sundays returns in just two days time. Until then, you can join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at a recent track from a Chicago-born rapper who is a household name. He maintained a following into the 1990’s through his mainstream success with The Soulquarians, and he’s since dabbled into acting work, appearing in Hollywood film blockbusters including Suicide Squad, John Wick: Chapter 2, Now You See Me, Terminator: Salvation, and, urm… Happy Feet Two… He was in that as well. 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: A Certain Ratio – “Berlin”

October 3, 2020 — Leave a comment

My calculator was fine yesterday, but it doesn’t work at all now. It just doesn’t add up!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “ACR LOCO” (Released on September 25th, 2020) (via Mute Records Ltd.)

Jokes aside, it’s time for your daily blog post! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, you guessed it, I’m here to type up about your daily track on the blog since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to get writing about a different piece of music every day! Named after a line from Brian Eno’s 1974 track, “The True Wheel”, A Certain Ratio were formed in 1977 in Greater Manchester by bass guitarist Jeremy Kerr, lead guitarist Peter Terrell, rhythm guitarist/trumpeter Martin Moscrop and lead vocalist Simon Topping. At the time, A Certain Ratio were one of the first bands to debut on Tony Wilson’s Factory Records in 1979, with their unique blend of Nu-Funk and Disco-Rock, influenced by New-Wave Rock production and Latin percussion, leading the group to become prominent figures in the Avant-Funk and the Math-Rock genres, particularly in the underground Indie Rock music scene of the UK during the 1980’s and 1990’s, with the band going through several line-up differences, and went on to eventually score seven different releases on the UK Top 10 Independent Singles Chart. In recent years, the band have been reissuing their back catalogue of five albums on the Mute Records label. For the first time since 2008, the band have just released a new album, “ACR Loco”, that was produced mostly by the trio of Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and drummer Donald Johnson. Speaking of the project, Kerr explained to NME that: “This album is a culmination of everything we’ve ever done”. Take a listen to “Berlin” below.

“Berlin” features backing vocals from New Order and Primal Scream’s well-known backing vocalist Denise Johnson, who sadly passed away in July. On her passing and the track, Moscrop told the press: “Denise will be missed so much by us, but her soaring voice will live on forever in our music and we are so blessed to have recorded with her on ACR Loco”. There is certainly a tragic backstory to the production of this track, then, and I feel as though its only amplified or enhanced by the idyllic and soft-spoken moods of the new track. Jezz Kerr updates the group’s retro sound with gentle nods to a more contemporary style of production, with a bubbling series of digital synths as he whimsically sings: “It will kill you if you dare, it will be a wave to drown you” over a taut, frizzled guitar rhythm and fluid drum machine riffs. Kerr’s vocal delivery is dry, and even deadpan to a point, as he effectively forms a ballad about mental anxiety and emotional depression. He wistfuly croons: “Every step you take is, someone else’s” during the mid-point of a rhythmic bridge as we continually build to a chorus that feels more direct and much less cerebral, even sounding punchy and hook-driven to a certain extent. It sees Kerr layer: “You never ever leave, your head alone” above a flickering, electronic keyboard synth line which vicariously spins off into a post-Kraftwerk, Motorik disco aesthetic. Johnson’s female vocals add a bit more lyrical texture to the proceedings, as she adds: “You never, ever, leave your head alone” to add a graceful impact to the work of an old-school Post-Punk group using a pulsating drum rhythm and timely vocal themes to challenge their original sound, whilst also retaining an old-school feel with the synth work, which is probably most comparable to New Order’s work from the mid-2000’s era. Overall, it just sounds like a group returning because they know what they’re doing, and that’s a good thing.

Pictured: Jezz Kerr (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar), Martin Moscrop (Lead Guitar/Trumpet), Peter Terrell (Rhythm Guitar/Engineering), Matt Steele (Keyboard/Synths) and Donald Johnson (Drums/Percussion) in an official photoshoot image to promote “ACR LOCO” (in 2020) (Photo Credit: ArtRockStore.com)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! Tomorrow marks the time for another weekly installment of our Scuzz Sundays series, which recently celebrated it’s 1st year anniversary. As always, we’ll be going back between the late-1990’s and the mid-2000’s to have a listen back to an Emo-Rock or a Pop-Punk classic from the time period, to see if it can hold up to the modern times (Or to see whether it was actually any good in the first place, in most cases, to be honest). 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/