Today’s Track: Bien Et Toi – ‘Haiku’

February 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

“Some heat for anyone to play when they get the aux” is all you need. New post time!

Pictured: LA-based electronic producer Gianluca Buccellati aka Bien Et Toi (2023) (Photo by Bellamy Brewster)

Good Afternoon! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it was previously my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day before my adulthood got right in the way! If you like music that personifies the statement that you saw in my intro above, more pleasure awaits you when you check out the ‘Voici’ EP by the LA-based producer who said it! The man in question is Gianluca Buccellati, an electronic music producer who has enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with well-liked artists like Hazel English, Biig Piig, Terry Presume and Declan McKenna. Most notably, he fulfilled production work on Arlo Parks’ blockbuster release ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’ which won the Mercury Prize, also receiving some album of the year nominations at the BRIT Awards and the Grammy Awards following its release in January 2021. As a solo musician, he started out as a member of White China during a run in New York and he has represented artists as an A&R scout operating from mini studios that he set up in Air BnB’s dotted around the globe. His music is recorded and released under the alias of Bien Et Toi which translates to “Well, and you” from French to English. Therefore, his answer must be very predictable if you were to ask how he’s doing. Bright and aestival are two words which accurately describe the sumptous sounds of his six-track EP ‘Voici’ released last year. I feel particularly cold today and his EP makes for a perfect antidote for dull weather in winter. Therefore, why not sample ‘Haiku’ below?

“This collection of songs was created when I was in a completely care-free state of flow”, the emerging producer tells us about his six-track EP ‘Voici’ in a revealing press statement, finishing off his sentence with, “After my last EP [2022’s ‘London Safari] I wanted to create a body of work that had less features and felt more personal. This EP is for people to let loose to, a soundtrack for pool parties or warmer nights” as he describes the production process of the release. It traverses through the chillout music sounds of 00’s compilation albums that have been lost to the domination of the internet and deviates into downtempo Electronica that cleanses the palette of the listener after a long hard day’s on shift at work, inviting you to build a fantasy in your mind that feels as kind as the “Well, and you” translation of his recording name. ‘Haiku’ is never afraid to showcase Gianluca’s work with many Hip-Hop producers by opening with a basic drum beat set above some auto-tuned vocals that feel obscured as to create a sense of intrigue around the track’s meaning. The textured Synths enter the fray promptly, raising the tempo and wrapping layers around the cryptic vocals while conveying a comforting space that puts a hand on your shoulder. A buzzing sound keeps the pace going even while the synths are retreating, before the winning crescendo rewards your attention once again. While the track never veers into hugely melodic and Pop-oriented territory, it maintains your focus by giving its electronic instrumentation a more human quality. There’s an emotive feel in how the multi-layered Synths control the pace of the track and feel like a cohesive pairing with the mechanical vocals in terms of drawing you in with its sense of invitation. Overall, this is one that fits whatever suit you need it to whether that’s a moment of reflection late at night or a trip to view a midsummer sunrise with the roof of your convertible down.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for the ‘Voici’ EP (Released on August 29th, 2023) (via Temple Records)

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Today’s Track: Andy Shauf – ‘Halloween Store’

February 16, 2023 — Leave a comment

Sending a signal from the outer reaches of the planet. Yes – I’m back with a new post!

Good Afternoon to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and, after a year and a half of going through an existential crisis, I have returned to my directing chair as I finally bring you a new post on One Track At A Time – because even though we have been apart for a while, it will always be my day-to-day pleasure to showcase the greatest emerging artists who deserve to be played more on the radio! If you were previously a long-term reader of One Track At A Time (First of all, thank you very much for your kindness and patience), you may recall how I used to adore writing about an artist called Jens Lekman – a Swedish indie pop/folk singer-songwriter – who really stands out for me due to his strong ability to tell engaging stories with an equal measure of melancholy and subtle appreciation for the profound moments in life. Well, Andy Shauf is an artist who I’ve been loving recently because they offer a very similar USP but their music is a little more gritty in its textures. With his origins rooted firmly in Saskatchewan in Canada – Andy Shauf later moved to Biennfait and Regina where he developed an interest in playing Christian music with his parents, a time where he learned how to play various instruments including the Clarinet. Today, I’m going to be telling you about ‘Halloween Store’ – so take a few to check it out and join me below.

If you are new to Andy Shauf, then you share the same story as me. I only managed to catch glimpses of his most recent music on BBC Radio 6 Music through various shows including The New Music Fix playlist and Tom Ravenscroft’s weekend show. ‘Norm’ is his latest album, having been released on February 10th, 2023 via Anti- Records. The full-length album is built around a fictional character of the same name, with Shauf commenting, “The character of Norm is introduced in a really nice way, but the closer you pay attention to the record, the more you’re going to realize that it’s sinister”, in press releases building up to the release date. If you have an ear for the softer side of music, you’re going to be quite pleased to know that ‘Halloween Store’ is a sparkling highlight of warm substance, and not a terrifying descent into chaos. Starting off the summer-friendly, concise indie pop/rocker with a raw acoustic guitar strum and an embellishment of drum cymbals, Shauf starts with a light rhythm as he tells an amusing anecdote about seeking a Halloween costume before a surreal encounter with an old flame. You can hear gentle sweeps of electronic Synths and a gentle Hi-Hat groove that creates more upbeat rhythms, soundtracking the butterflies in his stomach as he delivers lovely lyrics like “As my fog cleared/I realized, That you were sitting in your car/Smiling at me in the Halloween store” with a youthful bombast as the near Classical-like crescendo picks up. While his voice feels a little brittle and nervous, the twee nature of his anecdote fits the mood of the character with expert precision. The track feels like one of those dreams you experience where you wake up feeling cheerful and amused, but you’re never quite sure why because the positivity that you just felt was a half-remembered entity. It’s perhaps not a track that will tip the world on its axis commercially – which is exactly my type of music – but I find it gripping and enjoyable how Shauf manages to balance mundanity and drama in a way that feels warm and nostalgic simultanouesly due to his softly simple-but-effective approach. We just had Valentine’s – but this is as autumnul as late October.

Thanks so much for checking out my latest post! I may have lost my music mojo, but my dedication has always been to bring you my thoughts some emerging artists that simply take my breath away! I would love it if you would give me a follow on Twitter at @JacobBraybrook2 and I may help you to discover your next favourite artist there!

Today’s Track: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – ‘Blood In The Snow’

April 5, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Vinyl copy of ‘When The Lights Go’ (LP) (Available from July 22nd, 2022) (via Nice Age Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for you to get invested in yet another daily track on the blog, despite any incredulous looks on my face, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! 2012 (Although I discovered this soon-to-be specified record a year or two later). Picture the scene. I was a young sprog, sitting on the college bus every morning, beginning to experience alternative music outside of the mainstream for the first couple of times with a hair full of dandruff, finding my place in the world. I was being simply swept away by the vibrant Drum ‘N’ Bass and ethereal Jungle sounds of Orlando Tobias Higginbottom (aka Oxford-born House producer Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs) who injected colour in to the club environments of the 2010’s with his melancholic textures and a sense of longing in his voice, one in few of which I truly connected with at the time, with TEED’s critically acclaimed debut album release of ‘Trouble’. An entire decade later, ‘When The Lights Go’, the follow-up to that “Jacob Classic” of an album, is finally set to arrive on July 22nd. Higginbottom is a classically trained musician who is the son of a former choir conductor from New College, Oxford and he found his own footing through his studies at the Junior Royal Academy Of Music in London, before he became obsessed with electronic music through tapes lent by his siblings. He has since become one of my favourite musicians, and one of Britain’s most underrated exports in my honest opinion, although he is currently based in Los Angeles. To say that this dinosaur has been totally er, extinct between the ten year gap would be totally untrue, however. He has released several EP’s like 2013’s ‘Get Lost VI’, 2020’s ‘I Can Hear The Birds’ and 2021’s ‘The Distance’ to typically amazing results. ‘Heartbreak’, a collaboration with Bonobo, was also nominated for the ‘Best Electronic/Dance Recording’ nod at this year’s Grammy Awards. He has also collaborated with the likes of Anna Lunoe, SG Lewis, Kelsey Lu, Shura, Dillon Francis, Porter Robinson and Amtrac over the years too, as well as touring regularly. There is a great deal of excitement towards the new album, as it represents his most substantial body of material in ten years. Check out the lead single – ‘Blood In The Snow’ – below.

‘When The Lights Go’ will feature seventeen tracks, which were all largely recorded at Higginbottom’s own home in Los Angeles, California. He will also resume touring the US and Europe throughout the spring, including a Brooklyn show at Elsewhere Hall on April 29th alongside Kate Garvey and Heathered Pearls, with solo shows in Miami, Austin, Chicago and more to follow. Talking about the arctic theme of ‘Blood In The Snow’, he says, “The song is about melting glaciers and about wanting a daughter, and where to put love in this tailspin”, in his press assertion. Hitting the ground running with a haunting Double Bass intro accentuated by glistening Keyboard riffs and hazy Synth pads, Higginbottom warmly sings lyrics like “How much longer?, Before the damn begins to break” and “Precious winter, enough will all the growth” that feel downbeat and contemplative, while ominous and slightly reclusive in tone, as he questions his ambitions towards some parenthood and compares the emotions to the cyclical processes of nature. The chorus is gentle but striking, with the colder textures combining to the somber tune of lyrics like “Names for a daughter/Blood in the snow” and “But I want her, More than you know” that feel insular and precise, although the beat-driven pacing is laid out fairly sparsely. The instrumentation blends these arena-level electronics with his human, poignant vocals, where the distorted Synths create some interplay with the melancholic qualities of his vulnerable vocals by building gradually towards a halting crescendo, where his layers of textures simply crunch together. The verses are given space by the progressive Jazz-influenced Drums and the warping Synths that build to a slight alter in pace and mood in the late stages of the track where the different Snare sound comes in and, like his vocals, these changes feel subtle but delicate and merticulously crafted. This feels very different to the more club-driven sound of 2012’s ‘Trouble’ because the assortment of sounds deliver a low-key groove instead of an anthemic ‘danceability’ to them, but the delicate vocals of Higginbottom and the progressive, yet certainly grounded, take on Indietronica is still in there. It is admittedly a slow burn, but it makes for an emotional experience when you hear the different elements come together by the end and it has a similar tone of quintessentially British sadness and almost deliberately ‘flat’ vocals that only Higginbottom could really get away with, while the lyrics promise more maturity and growth from him as a songwriter, and it feels like rarity for him to use his own voice as the producer in this day and age too. ‘Blood In The Snow’ really stands out if you hear it on the radio, and it feels different to the spectrum of genres that he is often associated with, while sounding unmistakably like him in its bold production. Instead of totally extinct, this feels totally brilliant – and I’m stoked to hear the album.

Pictured: Orlando Tobias Higginbottom (aka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs) (2019) (Photo via EDM.com)

Here’s my TEED-related posts to get you warmed up for this highly anticipated album.

‘Los Angeles’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/08/05/todays-track-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs-los-angeles/

‘Heartbreak’ (with Bonobo) (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/06/todays-track-bonobo-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs-heartbreak/

‘The Distance’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/10/16/todays-track-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs-the-distance/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Distance’ (EP) (Released on October 27th, 2021) (via Nice Age Records)

That brings us to the end of yet another daily track on the blog, and thank you for continuing to support the site, as your time and attention is always appreciated very highly. It feels quite unbelievable that we’ve almost come up to another ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ post so swiftly, but that feature continues tomorrow with a post regarding a North Carolina-born Funk, R&B and Soul singer-songwriter who sadly left us in February. She was known for her controversially sexual-oriented performance style and songwriting. She was also the second wife of beloved trumpeter Miles Davis.

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Today’s Track: GoGo Penguin – ‘Ascent’

March 15, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Chris Illingworth (Piano), Nick Blacka (Bass Guitar) & Jon Scott (Drums) (2021) (Photo by Emily Dennison)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to rise to the occasion for yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! You can hear the break-beat’s and minimalist ambient Piano section of Aphex Twin’s discography, Electronica-inspired drums that could be right out of Squarepusher’s playbook, the groove-oriented blueprints of the heavyweights of contemporary classical composers like Phillip Glass, and countless more influences like Trip-Hop and Nu-Jazz in the music of the Manchester-formed Progressive Jazz band GoGo Penguin, who we previously covered in time for their self-titled album release in 2020 with the engaging single ‘F Maj Pixie’. Two years later and the Mercury-Prize nominated modern classical composers are back with ‘Ascent’, a deep 4-minute minimalist ambient piece that takes it’s inspiration from the likes of Brian Eno, Massive Attack and Radiohead. The band are currently signed to the French independent label Blue Note Records and are one of the label’s best-selling artists in selling in excess of 300,00 albums. The new track is also their first to feature the new drummer Jon Scott, who has replaced Rob Turner, a departure which was announced via Bands In Town and the group’s other social media platforms last December. If you live in Cambridgeshire, you can catch GoGo Penguin at The Junction on November 9th. Let’s give their newest single a spin.

Jon Scott’s name was the first to come up when the band was looking for a new drummer as bassist Nick Blacka had played some Jazz gigs with him when they started out in Manchester years ago and they have crossed paths several times since, and so the freshly re-established trio retreated to Peter Gabriel’s ‘Real World’ studios in Wiltshire to work on new material late last year, becoming stronger by the pandemic as a result of being unable to tour. Talking about ‘Ascent’ in a press release found on the Terrorbird website, pianist Chris Illingworth says, “The composition takes it’s inspiration from the duality often found in the big events in our lives, moments that can simultaneously make us feel both loved and isolated, fearful but confident, proud and humbled”, adding, “Ascent expresses the journey through these experiences in life, moving forward into the unknown, but with hope not fear”, in the trio’s statement. All things considered on that front, ‘Ascent’ starts off with a peaceful tone as a stuttering drum opening paves the way for a signature minimal Piano beat to create waves of arpeggiated Piano melodies to form the meditative groove for the main bulk of the well-structured and steadily sequenced track. The Piano pattern is repetitious, but it is well-developed because it is supported by a neatly balanced rhythm section and a backdrop of warmth in textures throughout, with elements of roots-flavored Jazz and electronic dance that introduce a morphing set of fresh melodies into the fray frequently enough. The cohesive and percussive drum patterns convey the reflective tone tidily, while the electronic elements and slight club music motifs make the piece feel more modern and contemporary overall. ‘Ascent’ provides for a peaceful and emotionally varied space for escapism, relaxation and enjoyment while being held together by a robust yet reliable rhythm. It definitely reminds me of Richard D. James’ downtempo Piano work, and, as a huge fan of Aphex, I find this particular influence to be appealing. Despite introducing a fresh member to their ranks and rebuilding chemistry – I felt that ‘Ascent’ picked up right where they left off.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘GoGo Penguin’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on June 5th, 2020) (via Blue Note Records)

If you love ‘Ascent’ and want to hear more of this band, you can Go Go here for more:

‘F Maj Pixie’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/11/todays-track-gogo-penguin-f-maj-pixie/

Pictured: Chris Illingworth & Nick Blacka with their former member Rob Turner (2020) (Photo Credit: Jon Shard)

That’s all for today! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, I hope that you enjoyed reading it and your support is always highly appreciated! I’ll be back tomorrow as we go retro for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog, as we revisit an indie rock favourite from 2006 that KEXP presenter Abbie Gobeli recently reminded me of. The title track of an album with the same name, the dance-rock meets garage revival number has been proclaimed as the unofficial theme track for the popular British 00’s drama ‘Skins’ because it was used a lot on the DVD menu and promotional material for the programme. The associated album reached #1 on the UK Indie chart.

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Today’s Track: Maylee Todd – ‘Show Me’

March 10, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Toronto’s Maylee Todd in a recent photoshoot to promote ‘Maloo’ (2022) (Photo via TheStar.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived for me to guide you through yet another exciting daily track on the blog from a very brave and ambitious singer-songwriter, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Brave’ and ‘Ambitious’ are just two words that describe the Toronto-based Art Pop musician Maylee Todd, who is new to this young writer’s eardrums, who has experimented with instruments as obscure as the Paraguayan Harp and the Tenori-on in her career since she began recording material in the 00’s. Todd has played across numerous festivals including the Crossover Jazz Fest and the Billboard Live Stage, she has performed alongside the likes of Janelle Monae, The Budos Band, Aloe Blacc and Thundercat on stage throughout the years, and she contributed her vocals to Bob Wiseman’s collaborative LP release ‘Giuletta Masina At The Oscars Crying’ in 2012. Todd was also the creator of Virtual Womb, a practical art exhibition where the audience walks through an enlarged CGI image of a Vagina and lies on the floor, awaiting the vibrant projections that float across on the ceiling, in 2017. Maylee Todd’s music seems just as visual and provoking, as a wide assortment of Indie Pop, Prog Jazz, Psych Funk, Bossa Nova and more have been incorporated into the sounds of her musical projects. Her latest full-length album – ‘Maloo’ – was released on March 4th via Stones Throw Records – an eclectic Funk, Jazz and Soul specialist label based in Los Angeles, California that has introduced several amazing artists like MNDSGN, John Carroll Kirby and Kiefer to my streaming libraries throughout the last few years of my work. Let’s give ‘Show Me’ a listen below.

To produce her latest artsy-craftsy LP project, Maylee Todd spent a lot of time researching VR throughout the pandemic, which led to some ideas on utopian, futuristic technology. The result is ‘Maloo’, a fictional character that she has designed in virtual reality that she created while working on the story and setting of a prototype VR video game, as she learned the skills of 3D modelling and body tracking to bring her vision to life. Dubbed as ‘The Age Of Energy’, a virtual space where the character is based, the concept album and the ‘Maloo’ avatar are influenced by intimate, personal origins. As Todd writes, “We participate in the digital landscape and our digital life has real-life implications”, in her press statement. Musically, she wrote and recorded ‘Show Me’ as the introductory single with the Yamaha Tenori-on – a discontinued electronic sequencer that was built by Toshio Iwai, a Japanese interactive media and installation artist. Her single begins with some glitched keyboard chords that convey visuals of futuristic cyberspace and post-modern technology immediately. The bass grooves grow deeper as her downtempo vocals become more hypnotic, and she allures you in to ‘Show Me’ with a noticeably Soulful skew that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Sly & The Family Stone or a Toro Y Moi record in it’s nostalgic, but free-form, nature. Lyrics like “Watch the birds, take their form/Icy hands, blood is warm” complement the peaceful and tranquil vibes, while the minimalist chorus of “Show me, your heart” is deep and intimate in it’s Lo-Fi textures. ‘Maloo’ may be conceptually driven and visually influenced at large, but the single is accessible enough to a fairly mainstream because it feels simple yet not simplistic. I also really admire the work that Todd has put into ‘giving the project her all’ by focusing on how the audio-visual aspects of the piece were written in tandem with her vocals. It reminds me of Bjork and St. Vincent, who are undoubtedly driven artists that have similar characteristics of boldness and communicating an idea through all aspects of the media at their disposal. In conclusion, it seems clear that Maylee Todd has a lot more to ‘Show Me’ – and I look forwards to seeing the rest of it.

Pictured: Vinyl Copy of ‘Maloo’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 4th, 2022) (via Stones Throw Records)

(That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you very much for reading what I had to say about Maylee Todd for a few moments today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to guide you through a sneek peek at one of the weekend’s notable and new album releases. This week’s post involves the debut LP release from an emerging Alternative Rock 4-piece Post-Rock band who have been supported by the daytime playlist of BBC Radio 6 Music and they have been praised by NME. If you’re a fan of hard rock outfits such as Coach Party and Kid Kapichi – you’re going to enjoy it!

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New Album Release Fridays: Beach House – ‘Once Twice Melody’

February 18, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Once Twice Melody’ (LP) (Released on February 18th, 2022) (via Sub-Pop Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to give you a sneak peek at one of the weekend’s most exciting new album releases, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! In most typical weeks, my choice for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ on the blog is a highly anticipated affair that we’ve only got two or three singles from at most prior to the big moment of release, however, in the case of ‘Once Twice Melody’ – you can hear three quarters of it already. The latest LP project from the Baltimore, Maryland duo of Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally, otherwise known as Beach House, a Chamber Pop duo who have been nominated for a GAFFA Award in Sweden, ‘Once Twice Melody’ is effectively a double album that contains 18 tracks that have all been presented in four chapters of four tracks that have seen staggered releases since November 2021, a risky move that notably finds music contributing to the streaming algorithm more closely than ever before. In aid of supporting the behemoth of a record, Beach House will be touring the UK and Europe in May and June 2022, as well as performing alongside fellow Psychedelic acts like Tame Impala and Lorde at this summer’s Primavera Sound Festival. ‘Part 1’ was released on November 10th, 2021 followed by ‘Part 2’ on December 8th, 2021, followed by ‘Part 3’ on January 19th, 2022 and, finally, the final chapter releases today alongside a full release of the project on Vinyl and Streaming. The duo have also recently provided the soundtrack to ‘Marin’s Dreams’, a short film. With their drawing and expansive sound that has been focused on conveying an abstract reflection of a message that idyllic moments are never quite as fruitful as fantasy, I have a lot of faith in LeGrand and Scally to pull out all of the stops with this mammoth of a release. For a sampler, let’s revisit the title track below.

Self-produced entirely by themselves, the ambitious LP project by Beach House was mixed by Alan Moulder, Dave Fridmann, Caesar Edmunds and Trevor Spencer, and it has been recorded over the past two years in a handful of studios spanning across Los Angeles, Baltimore and Cannon Falls. The lyrics for the title track speak of a girl that is placated by her own eccentric imagination, an unnamed character with an enigmatic narrative that we experience with refrains like “Nights fly by in her mind/All along the boulevard” and “She tries to understand/A never, never land” that find LeGrand focusing on the finer details of her mindset and they play out above a gorgeous sequence of looping synths and live drums on the title track. Guitar arpeggios continue to conjure up a sweeping and decorated soundscape that evoke sinking into the grass or the sand from an hourglass slipping through your fingers while LeGrand croons about the sensual slow pace of a hot, gauzy summer’s day. Lyrics like “Days go by/In her eyes/Belle De Jour in front of me” and “The purple on the vine/The velvet deep tree line” find the prismatic mood of the vocals basking in the far-away lands that have been constructed by our shy character’s wandering mind. It feels lush and vibrant as a complete package, with LeGrand and Scally telling a mysterious yet intriguing tale of the illusion of a crystal clear universe of fiction that are polished carefully with intimate Strings and a symphony of creative backing vocals, and yet the idealizations of our leading lady are never truly filled in. The sound simply takes you back to the very core of Shoegaze and Dream Pop music, which is all about filling a simple few melodies with meticulous details and an atmosphere that is simply designed for you to get lost in – and the kicking drums/synths combo of the vivid instrumentation escalate their own levels of intensity as the sprawling sounds move up to a higher scope. Therefore, I have a lot of faith that despite the sheer length of ‘Once Twice Melody’ as a full release, LeGrand and Scally will give the project plenty of depth and variety as to not grow tiresome and justify the length in creating music that doesn’t lose it’s intimacy over a run time. I concur that Beach House are brilliant!

Pictured: Victoria LeGrand and Alex Scally (2018) (Photo Credit: Robert Johannson/InterviewMagazine.com)

I’m off to visit my sister in Kent today, and so I haven’t got any longer to chat about all things music with you for today, but thank you very much for checking out the blog and your support is highly appreciated! If you deeply love your Dream-Pop and your Shoegaze styles of music, you’re also going to enjoy tomorrow’s post, which is why I decided to cover these two tracks so tightly together. It comes from the main solo project of the French multi-instrumentalist and producer Melody Prochet who got a 9/10 score from Drowned In Sound’s Dom Gourlay for her debut studio album in 2013.

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New Album Release Fridays: Trentemøller – ‘All Too Soon’

February 11, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Memoria’ (LP) (Released on February 11th, 2022) (via In My Room Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to get through the last few hours of your tiresome working week with the aid of yet another daily track of the blog of the ‘New Album Release Fridays’ variety, given how it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! One of today’s most eventful album releases comes from Trentemoller, a Danish film score creator, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Copenhagen, Denmark who has released lush compositions of a cinematic style for over 20 years now by drawing on elements such as Minimalism, Glitch, Dark Wave, Downtempo, Instrumental Hip-Hop, Synthwave, Post-Rock and more with productions that feel eerie and progressive for his grounded discography. Trentemoller started making music in the 90’s as a part of different Indie Rock projects and he has since founded his own label – In My Room Records. He also headlined the Orange Stage at Roskilde Festival in 2009 with a set designed by his close friend and touring drummer Henrik Vibskov, a night that saw him playing in front of 60,000 people with innovative visuals to captivate them. Today, he is releasing his sixth full-length studio album – ‘Memoria’ – via his own label. This is the follow-up LP to 2019’s ‘Obverse’, a record that was nominated for IMPALA’s European Independent Album Of The Year award of that same year and it also saw him collaborate with Warpaint’s Jenny Lee Linberg and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell. For one of his latest singles – ‘All Too Soon’ – he has reached out to his own girlfriend Lisbet Fritze for a glistening series of radiant backing vocals. Let’s give it a spin below.

Taking us through the narrative behind ‘All Too Soon’ on his own Bandcamp page, Trentemoller says, “All Too Soon examines ostensibly diametric relationships of light and dark, life and death, day and night, love and hate, while actually presenting them as dualistic, and symbiotic, influencing each other as they interrelate. What might appear to be a dispiriting take on our mortality could just as easily be interpreted as its acceptance being liberating”, in his own description. Beginning with a light acoustic guitar strum that becomes more intense and darkens the atmosphere before Fritze’s mysterious vocals kick in, who croons pained lyrics like “Have you ever fallen in/Into an inner void?” and “Do you feel like I do? Abandoned from it all” with an enigmatic presence, with a Trip Hop-influenced soundscape that morphs into a more glitched and distorted picture frame of a piece as the four minute duration of the track takes its time. Trentemoller complements the scattering Shoegaze opus of the chorus – with regretful lyrics like “We can’t live forever/If we could, we would” being sprawled all below percussive feedback stabs by Fritze – with sumptuous melodies of melancholic Drums and antagonized trails of reverb. Together, it makes up for an ethereal combination of psychedelic Dream Rock and textured Progressive Pop with a few vague lyrics like “Is a growing darkness/All you see?” creating a platform of intrigue. Through the means of collaborating with his girlfriend, Trentemoller toys with the idea of connections, with lyrics like “Is it day or night/Is it love or hate/Is it anything between?” that contrast each other and his instrumental work employs some warm percussion that counteracts the more cold, dry tones of the guitar and drums. Overall, ‘All Too Soon’ is a detailed and well-informed exploration of items that are bound together, yet they are opposite and he soundtracks these relations with his pivoting instrumentation and his emotive yet guarded lyricism that doesn’t reveal much in terms of laying out a direct meaning, with an underlayer of Pop that ensures that light is appropriately clashing with darkness throughout his soundscape.

Pictured: Anders Trentemøller in an official photoshoot for ‘Obverse’ (2019) (Photo by David Ampong/Waves.com)

That leaves me with nothing left to say other than to thank you for time and wish you well on your way to the weekend. ‘Scuzz Sundays’ will return in two days time for the usual throwback to the ‘trashy teen’ era of our lives, but I’ve also got some new music to share with you tomorrow that comes from an Indie Rock duo from the Isle Of Wight who have been all played over BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music since their debut single – ‘Chaise Lounge’ – went viral last year. They are shortlisted for BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2022’ poll and they began touring in the US in December as they keep finding success.

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Today’s Track: HighSchool – ‘Frosting’

February 3, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Forever At Last’ (Released on November 1st, 2021) (via Dalliance Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and it is time for me to get typing up for yet another quick daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A trio who spent a long period of over 200 days in lockdown together in their native hometown in the suburbs of Brunswick, Australia – HighSchool are a new Melbourne Post-Punk trio who were formed during 2020 and they have resurfaced after a year of writing and recording an extensive body of work to decent acclaim, with recent singles like ‘Jerry’ and ‘New York, Paris and London’ gaining airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music courtesy of Steve Lamacq’s ‘The New Music Fix’ programming during the early hours of Friday morning each week. Comprised of Lilli Trobbiani, Rory Trobbiani and Luke Scott, the band produces reverb-drenched rock that encompasses between genres like Noise-Punk, Industrial Rock and 00’s Post-Punk Revival in their atmospherically gloomy, but also slightly wistful and textured sounds. Known for their subversive Goth imagery, HighSchool have been finding popularity on Bandcamp recently with the release of their debut EP – ‘Forever At Last’ – which was released on November 1, 2021 via the British-based record label Dalliance Recordings. Check out the single ‘Frosting’ below.

HighSchool recorded their six-track EP project with Archie Shannon from Floodlights behind the decks and it compiles each of their singles to date including ‘De Facto’ and ‘Sirens’, plus the title track and three more, some of which songs have demo versions that date back to late 2020 in terms of their development stages. Opening the short-form release is ‘Frosting’, a Shoegaze-influenced jam that I have been playing on repeat personally, as it reminds me of The Smiths in quite a huge way due to the bittersweet qualities of the emotions and the melancholic sound of the simple guitar strumming that is accompanied by some edgy Goth-rock imagery during the official music video, while it also feels more Lo-Fi than your average Post-Punk act, with some fuzzy guitar riffs that remind me of the DIY Pop music that’s been coming out of the New York psych scene courtesy of artists like JW Francis, combining the moody aesthetics with a softer side that allows the radiant Soft-Rock to lay some emotional groundwork for the swooning lyrics and the sense of longing that is created by Rory Trobbiani’s lead vocals in the delivery. Lyrics like “The second I saw you dance/I was waiting on a love I never knew” and “You can’t win the war if you don’t know who the enemy is” feel contemplative and recall the angst-ridden undercurrent of bands like The Fall in the mid-1980’s, and they’re backed up by a soundscape of textbook Post-Punk where the drowsing guitar effects and the nostalgic Synth riffs, along with a briefly fluttering String sample section, provide an emotive backdrop to support the industrial Bass rhythms that are looped underneath. It feels polished and tidy, but the lead vocals are delightfully slathered in Jangle-Rock guitars that distort the clarity of the nuanced lyrics. Such lyrics recall particularly intimate seconds of time from the past, such as “Can’t say I don’t miss holding hands/And chasing afternoons”, that create more substance for the emotive qualities, as opposed to replicating some of their contemporaries that have been etched into the ‘Indie Landfill’ classification that becomes difficult to break away from. While the music is most reminiscent of modern Pop-Punk and wry Industrial Rock, it almost continues the tradition of bands like Slowdive and DIIV by the creation of the melancholic soundscapes that contain pretensions of stylisation and visual art, but it is more warmly delivered and it aims to uplift Rory Trobbiani’s vocals from a mood of longing to a more nostalgic one. They already sound like a more experienced act than they probably are, and that sounds really great as their music mostly leans on the gloomy side without simply pointing at trademarks of the key influences. Fantastic instrumentally and beautifully performed.

Pictured: HighSchool (aka Lilli Trobbiani, Rory Tribbiani and Rory Tribbiani) (2021) (Photo Credit: Hector Clark)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post, and, for the first time of the year, we seem to have a truly stacked line-up of new albums vying for your attention from tomorrow onwards, and we’ll be selecting one of them as a neat sampler for our ‘New Album Release Fridays’ post tomorrow. We’ll be previewing the newest album from a Missouri-formed indie rock band whose heavy music has been featured in advertisements for Apple, NFL and Bose. They have supported acts like Phoenix, Vance Joy, Joywave, and Cold War Kids on tour since autumn 2018 onwards.

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Today’s Track: Awkward Corners – ‘Somebody Somewhere Dancing In A Field’

January 27, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Chris Menist (Awkward Corners) in a PR shot for his Bandcamp profile (2021) (Photo via Shapes of Rhythm)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to get invested in yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you love the textural warmth of ambient albums like Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient Works 85-92’ released in 1993, I think you’re going to find something to enjoy with the post-90’s rave feel of ‘Somebody Somewhere Is Dancing In A Field’, an instrumental track with a euphoric feeling of post-festival musings and realistic ‘Hangover Vibes’, so to speak. Awkward Corners is the musical project of the London-based DJ and writer Chris Menist, who formed the project in Islamabad in the late-2010’s, where he was living at the time. Initial recordings were made in conjunction with local music artists in Thailand and Pakistan, and his releases have spanned multiple labels including Boomkat and Real Torque. Menist has also hosted programming on NTS Radio and has played in The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band as their percussionist, and so he’s got a fascinating little backstory behind him if you search for him on the internet and find out some more details. Nevertheless, his range of music mostly fits in the Ambient, Downtempo, IDM, Devotional, Middle Eastern and Experimental Electronic genres and he’s known for LP’s like July 2021’s ‘Amateur Dramatics’ that you can purchase from his Bandcamp page. The follow-up EP – ‘Somebody Somewhere’ – is out now via the London-based indie label Shapes Of Rhythm. Let’s listen to the centerpiece cut below.

The ‘Somebody Somewhere’ EP marks the second guest appearance of the multi-faceted South London-based DJ and composer Hector Plimmer on the Shapes Of Rhythm label for the opening track ‘No Words’ and the EP is decidedly more upbeat and more focused on the 4/4 style of genres like Microhouse, and so it promises to be a new favourite for the dancefloor when the clubs are finally allowed to open up again, contrasting the more downbeat and introspective tones of Menist’s earlier releases as Awkward Corners. There’s a true, yet definitive sensibility of 90’s Acid Techno to ‘Somebody Somewhere Is Dancing In A Field’, meanwhile, an Ambient piece that echoes the Ambient Works of Aphex Twin during the early 90’s and the ethereal side to Orbital’s glitched trademarks in terms of the influences and the memories that it brings to my ears. It feels danceable and light-hearted, yet it also evokes a very calming mood with its ‘World Music’ percussion that evokes a smooth and silky set of soothing qualities in terms of the emotion being conveyed through the music. The 808 sound structure invokes feelings of early Techno and subtle Chicago House while the trickling Synth lines and the spacious Drum patterns, that feel a little African in their delivery, keep things moving at a mid-tempo pace. It’s mostly down to the Conga syncopations that are spread throughout in which we end up with repetive melodies that simply massage your eardrums at an easy-going feel, while the thumping bass kicks represent a more heavy drum machine workout in terms of the instrumentation. A polite reminder of the intimate side of 90’s heavy-hitters like Aphex Twin, while also building up some hypnotic and textually warm grooves, this is a comforting nudge from the past that somebody, somewhere will be dancing in a field to in the summer, if not now, and it feels like a simple joy to listen to.

Pictured: Vinyl bundle of ‘Amateur Dramatics’ (2021) & ‘Dislocation Songs’ (2020) (Photo via Bandcamp.com)

That brings us to the end of today’s discussion, and thank you for joining me on One Track At A Time for my latest music-related musing for a spare minute of your day. It’s ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow and we’re sampling the soon-to-be latest LP from a Salinas-born R&B, Soul and Blues singer-songwriter whose debut single – 1998’s ‘Make It Hot’ – was certified Gold. She was also once a protege of Missy Elliott.

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Way Back Wednesdays: The Beta Band – ‘Squares’

January 26, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Steve Mason (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Richard Greentree (Bass Guitar/Keyboard), John Maclean (DJ/Samples/Producer) and Robin Jones (Drums/Percussion) (Date n/a) (Photo via NME.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to take a break away from the new year of new music releases by revisiting a small sample of the seminal sounds of the past as we go ‘Way Back’ for Wednesday on yet another daily track on the blog, given that it is my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A late-1990’s and early 00’s Alternative Rock group who have been remembered as “The self-destructive pop saboteurs who did it all wrong in all the right ways” by James McMahon, a writer for NME, in 2018 – The Beta Band are the rare case of a band that were, perhaps, a little misunderstood by the contemporary critics of their heyday, and they have only really been seen as highly influential in more modern times. Known for their experimental blend of Folktronica, Trip Hop, Plunderphonics, Psychedelic Rock and Progressive Pop, The Beta Band were praised by Oasis and Radiohead, eventually opening up for their live shows in 2001 and went on to build a healthy cult status with audiences alike. In 2001, in a very strange coincidence, both The Beta Band and Sheffield-based indie pop duo I, Monster decided to add a vocoder and some beats to The Gunter Hallam’s Choir’s ‘Daydream’ to form their own sample-based tracks of ‘Squares’ and ‘Daydream In Blue’, respectively, and the tracks melodies seem similar enough at first glance as to listeners being confused between the two but, upon a further inspection, ‘Squares’ has a more edgy, nightmarish feel in comparison to I, Monster’s more commercially successful adaptation of the 60’s piece. It was taken from The Beta Band’s sophomore album – ‘Hot Shots II’ – which was included in the 2010 edition of the book ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’ and it also reached #13 on the UK Albums Chart and it was co-produced by Colin Emmanuel. Let’s revisit the music video below.

The Beta Band’s music was memorably featured in a scene of the 2000 Romantic Comedy/Drama hybrid movie ‘High Fidelity’ that was based on the Nick Horny-authored novel of the same title. In an iconic clip from the film, a record store owner portrayed by John Cusack states “I will now sell five copies of The Three EP’s by The Beta Band” and he dances around to a full minute or so of ‘Dry The Rain’, a scene that exposed the cult Scottish group to a wide range of new listeners, especially in the US and internationally, and so there’s a fun slice of trivia for you. Back to the task at hand, we start with the immediately familiar lyrics of “I’ve seen the demons, but they didn’t make a sound” and “They tried to reach me, but I lay upon the ground” that get repeated later on, with Steve Mason sounding positively forlorn as he murmurs about seeing darkness trying to control him. You get the sense right away that things are off, with a very glitched Hip-Hop beat meandering and playing with the pitch of the melodies by itself, and a traditional beat only forms barely until the iconic String loop of the sampled track bursts through. The iconic lyrics of “Daydream, I fell asleep beneath the flowers” and “I saw miles and miles of squares, where’s the feeling there?” are met with Faust-like towered Drum backing beats and a neat Kosmiche guitar solo in the final half, forming an ankle-deep Electronica groove that is disorienting textually, almost as if Mason is simply wending through a humid fog but he is neither cynical or clueless. ‘Squares’ by The Beta Band and, also, ‘Daydream In Blue’ by I-Monster have two nearly identical hooks, but while ‘Daydream In Blue’ came and went a little more after it’s initial impact on pop culture, this revision of the sampled track by The Beta Band feels remembered more often, and I think that it has stuck simply because of a better use of sampling. ‘Daydream In Blue’ was memorable for adding a vocoder and a beat-driven style to the track, but that was largely it. However, ‘Squares’ just has more depth to it when you read between the lines. It features the usual hallmarks of The Beta Band in terms of it’s Radiohead-like experimental rock approach, but it also feels more minimalist in it’s light blending of R&B, Hauntology and Hip-Hop elements that are small, but stand out. The darkly psychedelic sounds feel like they’re playing off what you’ve heard before to give it a more nightmarish context that comes with the alienated fear of an awful acid trip. The risk pays off, and we get a half-remembered track that feels strong for this effect.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Hot Shots II’ (LP) (Released on July 16th, 2001) (via Regal Recordings)

That’s all for today! Thank you for being the companion to my Doctor Who with our throwback post today, and I’ll be back tomorrow with some more music, of the fresh variety, that you’re hopefully going to enjoy. We’re looking at a recent single from the London-born DJ and Writer Chris Menist, who began the project of Awkward Corners when he was living in Islamabad. His releases have since spanned record labels like Boomkat, and early recordings were made with local artists from Thailand & Pakistan.

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