Modern Prog.

Today’s Track: Fasme – ‘ICI’

December 7, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Fasme (aka Tom Ferreira) playing a live DJ set at Gaîté Lyrique, Paris (2020) (Photo by Underscope TV)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for some big room melancholy that comes courtesy of yet 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! Said ‘big room melancholy’ is one niche that the Belfast-formed dance duo of Bicep (Matthew McBriar & Andrew Ferguson) have become a pair of unofficial kings of, scoring Best British Group and Best New Artist nominations at last year’s BRIT Awards for their concoction of Italo-inspired Electronica and multi-layered Breakbeat production. However, the duo have set a few new parameters for curatorial duties with the launch of their appropriately titled imprint label, Feel My Bicep. Their first signee is the Paris-born and Nantes-based experimental electronic dance music producer Tom Ferreira, who releases his music under the moniker of Fasme. Having caught the attention of the big-league’s Bicep when he released the ‘Stretched World’ EP last April, Bicep found ‘ICI’ on YouTube and so began playing Ferreira’s music in projects like a Friday Guest Mix for Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC Radio 6 Music and the duo’s own FMB radio podcast on Apple Music. Fasme has recently supported them on tour in October and he performed a live DJ set at Sarcus Festival in France in late September. Ferreira has said that “Fasme” is a nickname that his aunt gave him at her house during the summer one year. He takes his style from the Braindance, IDM and Techno Ambient scenes of the 00’s and he has named acts like RX 101, Binary Digit, James Shinra, David Harleydson and EOD as his influences. ‘ICI’ is taken from the new ‘Home’ EP which he released in late October via Feel My Bicep, of course. Check it out.

Bicep, as the co-managers of the Feel My Imprint indie EDM sub-label, writes that “his melodic sound is created on analog synths, evolving between Acid, Electro and Braindance” on the Bandcamp listing page for Ferreira’s recent ‘Home’ extended play, adding that Ferreira describes himself as “more of a live performer than a studio man” in the product’s description page. A track that reminds me of Aphex Twin’s ‘Druqks’ double album released in the early 00’s of misfit recordings with it’s set of minimalist Classical influences and Tin Man-esque Acid Jazz wiggling production that aims to conjure up some ‘Alien-like’ qualities overall, ‘ICI’ is a mid-tempo Trance serving that wants to provide a great example of why Fasme is a decent fit for Bicep’s Feel My Bicep label. Thankfully, this is a goal that Ferreira seems talented enough to succeed within, and ‘ICI’ has all the building blocks required to be in place to keep the festival crowds grinning, as well as feeling soft and melancholic enough to please those who would rather listen while tucked into their beds with their headphones at a good volume late at night because the chords never feel too overpowering and the distorted electronic Keys sounds never feel too harsh or aggressive for the scene either. It has it’s moments of melodicism with some moody chords that take a dark approach to the layered Lo-Fi production and some big emotive Synth hooks, as well as some mechanical electronic drum kit programming that gives the tone of the track a suitable uplift, but it never quite channels these sounds into an explosive track full of beat-driven sounds and plenty of ‘Bro-Step’ energy. Instead, it feels like a more pensive and contemplative wind-down for the end of a long night. A nebulous mix of acidic Synths, heartbroken Piano chords and neat, warm Bass stabs – ‘ICI’ is more concerned with multi-layered Synth loops and powerfully entrancing moments. Overall, ‘ICI’ is an impressive little recording that pulls off the fairly difficult task of making the Bicep-esque rave-ready despondency sound a tad more positively wistful.

Pictured: Fasme (aka Tom Ferreira) photographed for a wertn.com Q&A feature (2020) (Picture via Leviet.org)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post, and we’ll be counting down to Christmas with another festive-themed post featuring a track that left its mark on the niche in 2005. At the time, the track was written and performed by a Philadelphia-based indie rock band, but the project is now the solo work of multi-instrumentalist and producer Alec Ounsworth. The band appeared in the 2008 film ‘The Great Buck Howard’, and David Bowie was famously seen at some of their shows.

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New Album Release Fridays: Arca (feat. Planningtorock) – ‘Queer’

December 3, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Kick iiii’ (LP) (Released on 3rd December, 2021) (via XL Recordings)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke and, for the final time until 2022 rolls around, it is time for us to take a deep dive into one of this weekend’s biggest new album releases, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It all comes down to this. As the curtain draws the year of exceptional new music to a close, we are left with a final notable release. Or two. Or three. Or – in the case of Venezeulan experimental pop producer Arca – four. Last summer, she released ‘Kick i’ to an interesting reception and this week, she has completed the ‘Kick’ quintet with the release of ‘Kick ii’, ‘Kick iii’, ‘Kick iiii’ and ‘Kick iiiii’ all on the same day via XL Recordings, boasting a total of 43 tracks of wild Glitch Pop experimentation. I loved her track ‘Time’ on the blog last year, but a follow-up single – ‘Mequetrefe’ – received a more negative reception from me, so it will be interesting to see where ‘Queer’ from ‘Kick iiii’ (featuring the Estonia-based English DJ Planningtorock) lands with me. The critics seem to be liking the ambitious bible of projects, however, with The Guardian writing, “A wild ride to the dark, daring side of Pop” in their four-star write up. The Times added, “Pop that’s a pleasure to be confused by” in their appraisal. I mostly know Arca, also a transgender icon, for her friendship and a few collaborations with the Icelandic role model Bjork. However, Arca has also produced work for Kanye West, Rosalia and FKA Twigs (Who famously used to date Robert Pattinson for quite a while, I believe). ‘Kick iiii’ also features Garbage’s Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates & No Bra. Give ‘Queer’ a whirl below.

Pitching the fourth part of her ‘Kick’ series of augmented records as “an entry in the sensual charge in the cycle; my own faith made into song, a posthuman celestial sparkle, psychosexual pulsewidth modulation, queering the void, abyss alchemically transmuted into a deconstruction of what is beautiful” in her partial LP’s product description, Arca continues to explore the themes of alienation from the inside and a bursting apart of old skin with the glitch-driven lead single from her ‘Kick iiii’ album – ‘Queer’. Built up to be an anthem that is celebrating courage in the face of prejudice and encouraging queer romance in all of its forms, this is a dramatically exploratory single that establishes Arca in the ilk of a ‘true artist’ like Kate Bush or David Bowie where commercial accessibility is primarily not a target and expression with an almost ‘alien’ quality, where traditionally catchy genre traits are simply disregarded in favour of a creative approach. Therefore, I can definitely see why this track may not play ever so well to casual listeners and it, even for me, was a little bit overwhelming to fully grasp on a first listen. It has a vague resemblance to the Eurovision flavour of Pop, however, that gives us somewhere to start with her. Set against the backdrop of a Witch House trap beat that has an air of Latin Hip-Hop about it, calling to my mind names like 100 Gecs and Bad Bunny anyways, Arca and Planningtorock (her actual name is Jam Rostram) exchange a series of Spanish and English lyrics between each other in a trade, with anthemic lyrics like “Tears will shower in my time/Like a queer life/Queer fire” as the Synthpop textures and the science fiction soundtrack feel of the music dives along at a brisk pace that doesn’t ever quite let up entirely. Full of processed vocals and some more interchangeable genre influences that are buried underneath the broad instrumentals, ‘Queer’ finds itself preoccupied with swelling Synth arrangements and rattling percussive arrangements that each function as a mimicry of non-heterosexual forms of love in their diverse nature. The opening of the track is a highlight for me, where a screeching sequence of samples almost act as haunting strings that get the beats off to an unrelented start. Overall, while I can certainly agree that ‘Queer’ is a lot to take in at once and it takes some hard work to get the most out of, I felt rewarded by the emotive soundscape that becomes more vibrant and expansive in scope with my repeated listening. I can also appreciate the thought that goes into the visual aspects of her art too. A tsunami of seismic material.

Pictured: Arca in an official photoshoot to promote the release of “Kick i” (2020) (Photo Credit: Hart Leshkina)

As aforementioned, Arca has gained a little bit of attention from my blog before. If you found ‘Queer’ to be interesting, you can see what I made of ‘Time’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/28/todays-track-arca-time/. You can also gain your own opinion of ‘Mequetrefe’ by visiting my take on it here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/30/todays-track-arca-mequetrefe/

Pictured: Arca (Alejandra Ghersi) in a shot from the ‘Time’ music video (2020) (Photo Credit: Rolling Stone)

That’s all for now! Thank you for finding out what music that I had to share with you today, and we will be going back to our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ in glorious style tomorrow. Join me then for an in-depth look at a new holiday-themed album release by an American Acapella group from Arlington, Texas who won the third season of NBC’s ‘The Sing-Off’ in 2011 and they have won three Grammy awards following that time. If you are a fan of the three ‘Pitch Perfect’ movies, you may find it Aca-awesome.

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Today’s Track: Porij – ‘Can’t Stop’

November 30, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Baby Face’ (EP) (Released on September 22nd, 2021) (via Oat Gang Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to shuffle along to the beat of yet 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! An Art-Rock 4-piece from Manchester, Porij are a comically named act who formed while studying and staying in halls together at the Royal Northern College Of Music in 2016. Since then, they have supported Cory Wong at Manchester’s 02 Ritz and have received positive reviews from publications like Clash, NME and FADER. The likes of Radio X’s John Kennedy, BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and the BBC Radio 6 Music daytime playlist have also given them airplay. During the summer, they impressed us all on the blog with their peaceful protest anthem ‘Nobody Scared’, which was inspired by a documentary about Jack The Ripper that the boys saw on Netflix, and it was their call out to violence against women. If you are a fan of bands like Alt-J and Everything Everything – or even Glass Animals and Django Django – I think you’re going to really like this Experimental Pop project. The boys were at it again with the release of their new ‘Baby Face’ EP in September, which featured some previously released singles and new original tracks. The lead single – ‘Can’t Stop’ – was written by drummer Tom almost two years ago as an attempt to bring focus to his over-active imagination, and it arrived with a music video and a plethora of UK tour dates. Let’s give it a spin below.

Porij said in a statement, “Can’t Stop is a super intense, pretty relentless dance tune, about uncertainty, changing your mind and being completely consumed by your thoughts – but all while having a pretty sick time” when they released the track, which is built upon some House-like qualities with an occasionally manic Garage beat, which is complemented by some intentionally dodgy Synth patches and processed vocals that sometimes drift into an energetic auto-tuned frenzy. The band also say that it matches a quirky UKG drum and bass influence to some neat synthetic Pop elements, and it becomes clear from the infinitely tinkered fusion of late-90’s dance music facets and late-00’s indie rock motifs that the band have created a fun track that is sure to brighten up your day. The lyrics, with rhythmic sections like “I feel out of control, got me thinking/Spent a night on your own got me thinking” and more spoken word-like bridges including “Hold me in, push the time on/In your room, take my eye off” sound conventional for a modern indie dancefloor anthem, but their mode of delivery is playful and off-kilter, and so the vocals capture the overarching theme of questioning your own surroundings and sanity with a decent amount of weight to them. In terms of the instrumentation, Porij become known for looping strange Synth sounds and bulky, hefty basslines pretty early on in the track. They contrast the dance elements with a good mix of neatly woven production and more unpredictable melodies through the keyboard riffs later on. Some Jamiroquai-esque guitar riffs and a small touch of percussion round the equation off, and we are left off with a psychedelic number that treats us to the daring bounds of Porij’s creativity once again. While I would have liked for more of their serious social commentary to come through more clearly, as with ‘Nobody Scared’ that was a nod to the ‘Reclaim The Night’ movement for street safety, I think ‘Can’t Stop’ is a catchy and infectious single that would make me get up and dance in a night club with no difficulty. Generally, I really like how Porij approach each of their singles at a ‘case-by-case’ basis because it makes their discography feel quite fresh and diversified, and I like how the Manchester-based act are comfortable with the fact that different directions require different tools to others. In conclusion, ‘Can’t Stop’ is a crowd pleasing and danceable single that appeals to both indie dancefloor fans and club attendees alike.

Pictured: ‘Eggy’ (Lead Vocals/Keyboard), ‘Tommy’ (Rhythm Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals), ‘Jammo’ (Bass Guitar/Percussion) and Tom (Drums/Occasional Backing Vocals) (in 2021) (Photo courtesy of PR/DIYMag.com)

If you’re feeling frightened, here’s a reminder that Porij wants ‘Nobody Scared’ with their previous single ‘Nobody Scared’, which has already been covered on the blog: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/06/15/todays-track-porij-nobody-scared/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Nobody Scared’ (Single) (Released on April 21st, 2021) (via Oat Gang Records)

That’s your lot for the day! Thank you for continuing to support my content on the blog each day, and I’ll be back tomorrow to resume our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ for the year because it will be December 1st, after all. It still feels a little early for me, and so we will be going for something that’s a little more winter themed in general than specifically festive. However, it comes from one of my favourite pure songwriters in the industry. He fairly recently completed the unique ‘Correspondence’ side project with Tracey Thorn from Everything But The Girl, and had a Swedish #1 album in 2007.

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Today’s Track: Relaxer – ‘Narcissus By The Pool’

November 23, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Daniel Martin-McCormick in a Red Bull Studios Spotlight Session (2016) (Via RedBull.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for you to slip into something more comfortable for your daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A New York-based experimental electronic music producer, Daniel Martin McCormick has enjoyed a career that reads like a long list of small achievements. He’s also known for releasing specialist music under the alias of Ital, and he is known for his frequent collaborations with the fellow DJ Aurora Halal. He has also been a member of groups like Black Eyes and Mi Ami, and he is the co-founder of Climate Of Fear, as well as being the founder of Lovers Rock Recordings. In 2019, he established a new alias of Relaxer and he released ‘Coconut Grove’, an album which delivered something that felt more close to a pure Techno album than his earlier releases. The follow-up, 2021’s ‘Concealer’, is his first album to be released on Planet Mu in ten years. It drifts towards hyper digital sounds and it marks his return to using PC hardware. The album’s cover art, created by the NY-based graphic designer Bjorn Copeland, is an indication of his new album’s sound, which explores the sub-genres of Dark Ambient and Microhouse. McCormick notes that it reflects “this open, airy material squeezed and wrestled into a contorted shape, suspended in air with an empty center. That’s exactly how the album felt. In this sense, I wanted to take myself out of it, to let the materials bloom into their own shape, guided by my hand but not defined by my intellect or any market concerns”, in a press statement. Let’s check out ‘Narcissus By The Pool’ below.

McCormick has revealed that his latest LP was “made in a very private way” and he describes this process as being akin to “peering into materials – the materials defined the record”, adding, “Rather than making a record that’s about an emotion, or a political scenario, or the dance floor, or the empty dance floor, or any narrative, this record was about communicating with the materials and letting them speak with me” in his own press notes. Taking a mellow approach to proceedings on mid-album cut ‘Narcissus By The Pool’, McCormick takes influence from old-school 90’s Glitch and more forward-looking minimalist Techno. By disregarding traditional Dance music traits and the normal contexts of finicky textures and spacial tricks that characterize popular Industrial music, he creates a more detailed recording that is defined by how the music flows and the intimate textures that it creates on its own. Using a slightly acidic Synth line and a chiming Chiptune melody, McCormick creates something simple and effective that would not have felt out of place if it was originally released during the mid-2000’s. It is far from just a nostalgic throwback anthem, however, with some downtempo oddities in sound and a peak-time euphoria feeling that creates something that feels more firmly post-modern. In conclusion, this is a beautiful record that isn’t focused on big hooks and catchy melodies, so it falls into a bit of a niche. However, there’s absolutely nothing that is inherently wrong with that, as it feels diverse enough to appeal to different sub-sections of audiences, like those who study at their computer to the beats of Lo-Fi radio channels on YouTube and those who are likely to take things down a notch right before bedtime with their ear plugs tuned into a podcast like ‘Ambient Focus’ on the BBC Sounds app. Whatever the case, this is meticulous, very thoughtfully crafted music that is approached like a sculpture.

  • Pictured: Relaxer (Daniel Martin-McCormick) performing with Halal at Rewire Festival (2020) (via PR)

That leaves me with little left to say! Thank you for reading the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to resume the ‘Countdown To Christmas’ this year. Our next entry is a cover version of ‘Frosty The Snowman’ which was released in 1993 by a pioneering Scottish Shoegaze outfit whose lineup featured the head boss of Bella Union Records.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Stereolab – ‘French Disko’

November 10, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Tim Gane (Lead Guitar/Keyboard), Lætitia Sadier (Lead Vocals/Percussion), Andy Ramsay (Drums), Joseph Watson (Synths) and Xavier Muñoz Guimera (Bass) (2021) (Photo by David Cowlard)

Good Afternoon to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to take you back to a much simpler time for another weekly entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A cult favourite and influential band who were one of the first bands to be dubbed as “Post-Rock” in the 1990’s, Stereolab have seen a few line-up modifications in their share of time since they formed between London and France, but they currently tour and record music together as a 5-piece. Known for combining some elements of Kraut-Rock, Lounge Jazz and Motorik music together, and realizing some philosophical and sociopolitical themes of Surrealist and Situationist themes within their lyrics, Stereolab were a key figure for renewing interest in older analogue equipment during the Synth-oriented times of the 90’s. Also drawing from Brazillian and Funk influences in their sound, Stereolab have been regarded as one of the world’s most important bands and have once managed their own record label, Duophonic. Despite achieving relatively little commercial impact in their 90’s heyday, the band have reunited as recently as 2019 and they have hopped between the likes of Warp Records and Elektra Records when releasing their material. 1993’s ‘French Disko’ is one of their most recognizable singles, and it had originally appeared on their EP, ‘Jenny Ondoline’, before finding a second life on their 1995 compilation, ‘Refried Ectoplasm (Switched On, Vol. 2’. As someone who’s been to a handful of gigs before as a young adult in Cambridge and Stoke-On-Trent, I can say that I often see a die-hard in the crowd with a Stereolab shirt. Give them a spin below.

‘French Disko’ has been covered by the likes of Editors, The Raveonettes and Cineplexx since Stereolab’s original release in 1993. Another very interesting fact about the track is that in the UK, due to ‘French Disko’ becoming a surprise commercial success due to unexpected commercial radio airplay, the ‘Jenny Ondioline’ EP had stickers that read “Includes French Disko” on the cover art, and so the EP was being sold on the strength of ‘French Disko’ as an unnofficial single at one point. Stereolab also gained attention with the live performance on TV above, which was broadcast on a programme called ‘The Word’ that was designed to replace ‘The Tube’ in Britain. The track itself, ‘French Disko’, isn’t really the soulful and funky disco tune that you may expect when reading the title, and it instead places an emphasis on driving 60’s Motorik beats and absurdist lyrics that act as a call to arms for action against a dominant socio-political force. Refrains like “Well, I say there are things worth fighting for”, often recited by Lætitia Sadier, feel conversational and catchy, bolstered by a wry delivery that plays on the absurdity of the overall themes of the songwriting. There’s some elements of the Grunge era led by Nirvana in the 90’s with the distorted bass guitar riffs, and there’s some slower sections of the recording that point towards a more Acid Rock-oriented sound. The vocals have an air of 70’s Jangle Rock about them, mainly in their upbeat and quick-witted delivery. Other lyrics, such as “Though this world’s essentially an absurd place to be living in/It doesn’t call for a total withdrawal” and “Acts of rebellious solidarity/Can bring sense in this world”, that play on how we believe the things that we read in the news as humans, and how the media is typically motivated by a secret agenda. Overall, the concise lyrics are touching upon personal freedom and how there’s a path to a better future if you’re going to spend time calling out what clearly isn’t working. These themes still feel relevant today, in a world where we’ve been following instructions on how to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic as a mass society. While Stereolab are dealing with a rich assortment of some complex themes here, the sound of the track itself felt contemporary for it’s time and the formula of Sadier intonely droning above the harsh Synth climax and the noisy, collage-like guitar and drums melodies creates enough of a late-80’s New Wave element to balance a retro and modern style for its time to a point where it feels original and not outdated. The hook of “La Resistance” is a powerful and ominous one, and the track has an overall playful style to it that weaves together the band’s different influences of Kraut-Rock, Prog-Rock, Drone, Noise-Pop and Synth-Rock in a way that feels accessible yet stacked. Therefore, it’s that reason why I would suggest ‘French Disko’ as a good entry point into the rest of Stereolab’s discography if you are not familiar with their music. In conclusion, ‘French Disko’ is a very punchy cocktail of academic influences that still sounds unique today.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Jenny Ondioline’ (EP) (Released in 1993) (via Duophonic/Elektra Records)

That’s all for now – and, as I mentioned yesterday, ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ will be going on a short break until Wednesday 5th January, 2021, because it’s time to begin our ‘Countdown To Christmas 2021’ feature that we’ll be spreading throughout the days of the coming weeks because Santa’s on his way – whether we like it or not. With the goal of adding some Alternative festive options to your playlists, we’ll be mixing some of the latest seasonal releases with older tunes from some of our favourite on-brand names on the blog. Tomorrow is ‘New Album Release Fridays’ and we will be shifting our focus to the new LP from multi-time ARIA award winner Courtney Barnett.

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Today’s Track: Hiro Ama – ‘Autumn Colours’

November 9, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Promo for Hiro Ama’s interview on WorldwideFM.Net (2020) (Photo via Artist/Facebook.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to enjoy a stroll in the Autumn along to your 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! Autumn, which is more widely known as ‘Fall’ to any Americans reading this for some strange reason, is a month where we all love to reflect. This is clearly very significant for the Japanese-born and now London-based Japanese Ambient composer Hiro Ama, who has just released the seasonal new single, ‘Autumn Colours’, via PRAH Recordings. Dabbling in the Contemporary Classical, Drone and Electronica genres, Ama is perhaps best known for his ‘Uncertainty’ EP that he released in 2020. On that record, Ama mixed tonal references to his Japanese homeland with pared-down House melodies and Pan-Asian instrumentals and it was self-produced within one month in his London flat during lockdown. Keen gig-goers may have noticed that Ama is also the drummer of the British Indie Pop group Teleman, alongside vocalist Thomas Sanders and bassist Pete Cattermoul, whose three studio albums have all reached the Top 75 of the UK Singles Chart and they opened for Belle & Sebastian on a tour in 2016. For his solo work, Ama has taught himself how to play the both Guitar and Piano. He has also remixed the likes of Rozi Plain and Alabastor De Plume. Out now on his Bandcamp page, ‘Autumn Colours’ is the first taste of his upcoming second solo EP, ‘Animal Emotions’, which comes after a rare break from live touring in eight years, will be released at an undetermined point of time. Settle into Ama’s ‘Autumn Colours’ below.

“As the song title says this is a song for Autumn which is my favourite season. Autumn makes me feel nostalgic and melancholic somehow and I like those feelings. Spring is too pretty and Summer is too happy – I feel Autumn represents myself perfectly”, Hiro Ama explains on his Bandcamp page, adding, “I find a bit of sadness or darkness makes music more beautiful, maybe because it’s imperfect or fragile”, to his discussion behind his latest single’s themes and explorations. Opening with an easy-going kick drum beat that rolls along at a joyous pace, ‘Autumn Colours’ bursts into life with a contemplative Piano riff and a scattering Bass line that occasionally crackles along to the upbeat tempo of the instrumental grooves. The floating Piano riff cascades into a variety of colourful guitar licks and spacious Drum grooves, with a reflective tone that keeps the proceedings feeling warm and relatively bright, but gentle and grounded in delivery. The second half of the song is where things get a little more progressive, as a harsh Synth riff introduces a more distorted nature into the track and continues to add some more diversity to the ongoing spiral of pretty, yet a little somber, Piano melodies and the Drums/Bass combo that adds a more melodic quality to the beats. There’s no need for the vocals, as the more downtempo feel of the Classical instrumentation and the more buoyant acoustic instrumentation conjoin together for a relaxing mix of laidback melodies with a darkened, sometimes rougher, undercurrent. The wavering Synth riff, found in the latter half of the track, continues to add more contemplation to the emotive style of the track and blur the lines between the lighter feelings and the more intense sequences. Overall, ‘Autumn Colours’ is a seasonally appropriate mix between an interpretation of surroundings and an internal monologue, with some hazy melodies and an ever so slightly more sinister touch, yet the Easy Listening style and flair of the track and the blissful instrumentation keeps a fairly light-hearted Jazz element in tact, as the jolly feel of seasons past draws to a close and the leaves turn brown in a surprisingly short notice.

  • Pictured: Hiro Ama with a Vinyl copy of the ‘Uncertainty’ EP (2020) (Photo via Artist/Facebook.com)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest blog post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for the final entry in our ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ feature of the year, as the series will be taking a short hiatus until very early in the new year. That’s because Chrimbo is a-coming, and so we’ll be beginning our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ where we review some alternative festive anthems, both old and new, that could make your seasonal playlists this December. We’ll be rounding things off with a bang instead of a whimper, as we divert our attention to a cult classic single from a French-English Avant-Pop group who are still one of the most influential bands to reach our shores as they renewed interest in older analogue equipment at a desperate time of need. They combined elements of Kraut-Rock & Lounge Jazz, and founded their Duophonic label.

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New Album Release Fridays: Geese – “Low Era”

October 29, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Projector’ (LP) (Released on October 29th, 2021) (via Partisan Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to take a closer look at one of the week’s most newsworthy album releases for yet another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! The likes of LGBTQ+ Techno activist Maya Jane Coles, legendary Leeds Trip Hop producer Nightmares On Wax, Qrion, Sam Evian, Eleanor Buckland and mainstream music mega star Ed Sheeran are all releasing new full-length efforts today, but one of the most intriguing offerings comes from the Brooklyn Art-Punk band Geese. ‘Projector’ was intended to be their last album before they split up and went to seperate colleges in the US, but they were signed up to Partisan Records, the home of successful bands like Fontaines DC and Chubby & The Gang, and appointed the critically beloved producer Dan Carey (Idles, Squid), who Geese cite as influences, to mix their new album. Their beginnings as a band trace back to 2016, however, where their members met during freshmen year at high school and they bonded over their love for 70’s Synth-Rock groups like Yes! and Pink Floyd to build chemistry together. Their single, ‘Disco’, has gained huge praise from the alternative music press, and Geese have since been covered by journalists from NME, SPIN, Brooklyn Vegan, Stereogum, KEXP, KCRW and more. They have also headlined Berlin, a club located beneath the Lower East Side Bar 2A, found in their borough in New York. They’re also expanding through the UK and Europe, with two performances set for The Honeyglaze in London and a concert taking place at the Endorphin Transistor in Paris next month. Get a taster with recent hit ‘Low Era’ below.

Geese – whose oldest member has just turned 19 – have plenty to say about ‘Low Era’, which comes accompanied by a gloomy and trippy music video that was directed by Fons Schiedon, and they explained, “We like the idea of confusing the listener a little, and trying to make every song a counteraction to the last, pinballing between catchy and complicated, fast and slow”, adding, “Low Era is on one end of that spectrum, and ultimately broadened the scope of songs we thought we could make”, to their press notes. ‘Low Era’ ushers in a psychedelic 3-D element that ends up appearing throughout the new album, a single that Geese began playing live in 2020 and it helped them to grow their following. Calling back to Alt-Rock bands like The Strokes and Klaxons of the 00’s, ‘Low Era’ builds appeal from its raw and cagey vocals, the persuasive blend of steel guitar frames and shoegaze influence, and the New Wave instrumentation which gives proceedings a quirky uplift, and echoes the sentiments of LCD Soundystem and A Certain Ratio in radiating something more groove-led from the misfit psychedelia with the balance of playfulness and commandment. Their guitar melodies are a little funk-oriented, but lyrics like “On the hour of my death, the page rips/All is lost, and I am left to rot” are quite morbid and the delivery is fairly authoritative, but given a Falsetto-like croon to make things feel a little bizzare or pecuiliar, even. Some of the lyrics, like “Modern magazines and holy scriptures/My play rehearsals all go unheard” are witty and sardonic, while other lyrics like “The beginning of the end approaches/You and I, we float up to the top”, sound more post-apocalyptic and a little silly in tone, and so Geese approach the track as a neat balancing act of taut Post-Punk afflictions and more wacky, dance-led undertones. It is a risky move, but it thankfully pays off pretty well on ‘Low Era’ because these two different moods are juxtaposed pretty evenly and distort one another with an overlapping effect at times, so the production feels coherent and charming, leading up to the atmospheric instrumental section that finishes ‘Low Era’ off at the end. This is an intriguing track where, despite the call for dancing or listening quietly seeming a little unclear in direction, the band are pulling off more tricks than your average, moody gang of Post-Punk outcasts, with some instrumentation that feels interesting despite a little unfocused at times. A hypnotic combination of Synth-Punk and Prog Rock, coming from a band who are still really young and developing at a strong pace.

  • Pictured: Cameron Winter (Lead Vocals/Keyboard), Max Bassin (Drums/Percussion), Dominic DiGesu (Bass Guitar), Foster Hudson (Rhythm Guitar) & Gus Green (Lead Guitar) (2021) (Photo by Daniel Topete)

That brings us to the bottom of the page – for yet another day, of course! There’s no ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature this week because we are getting into the Halloween spirit with a two-day spread of Spooky Season posts, where we will be comparing selected songs from the soundtracks of the 1978 version of ‘Halloween’ and the 2018 rebooted release, both of which were scored by the prolific Horror film director John Carpenter.

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Today’s Track: Wayward – “Camden Road”

October 14, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Lawrence Gayle Hayes (Drums/Synths) & Louis Greenwood (Sampling/DJ) (2021) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Wayward is the fast-emerging Experimental Electronic music project of the London-based duo Lawrence Gayle Hayes and Louis Greenwood, who have gained acclaim from Pitchfork, Mixmag and Vice. They have worked as A&R’s for Silver Bear Recordings, and released material through the Australia-based Beasts Of No Nation label and Fort Romeau’s Cin Cin Records label, and they have been in the studio with the likes of Ninja Tune’s Park Hye Jin and Grammy-winning producer Skrillex. In March, the pair of producers released their debut LP, ‘Waiting For The World’, which was influenced by Burial’s ‘Untrue’ and they combined Drum & Bass, House, Breakbeat and Ambient elements into a concise record. Their latest release is ‘Sapphire Eyes’, a four track EP which was self-released on September 29th. It was inspired by the rave experiences they had while growing up in London – an ode to nightclubs and community. Let’s spin ‘Camden Road’ below.

Citing influences like Addison Grove, Machine Drum and Overmono for their latest short form release, the duo shared on their own Bandcamp page in a press statement, “If our debut album showcased the more reflective side of our yearning for clubs, and a softer side of the lockdown experience, this EP is the anger, frustration and urgency coming out”, concluding, “Stuck indoors again just wanting to band it out in a club with the intention of making something completely focused on the dance floor” in the notice. Their fourth track on the record, ‘Camden Road’ sticks out amongst the others for the emotive feelings which it shares, coming across to me as more nostalgic than euphoric. It boasts a similar sound to some early 00’s Hyperdub recordings and more recent Footwork releases, where the Synths and the propulsive basslines feel as vibrant as the mixed multi-cultural community that their hometown, which they are paying tribute to, has become known for in recent developments. Their vocals play with escapism, with Lawrence reciting the likes of “So much life, so much fun” and “Festivals in Hungary with black people” with a slightly muted Spoken Word delivery that doesn’t feel massively poetic, and feels grounded in approach instead, with a soft Hip-Hop rhythm and a mumbled tone of speech which fits the wonky production aspects and the very metropolitan aesthetics of London. The rest of the instrumentation goes down a treat too, with a looped Piano melody and light Synth pads creating a gentle opening, before Wayward flip the switch for the big chorus where they replace the light-hearted beats with a more rugged dance style, using some swooping drums and syncopated vocal chops to hit a BPM of around 130, which feels subversive and unpredictable when the earlier melodies are flipped on their head. Overall, I was very impressed with ‘Camden Road’, a modern dance track that has an ability of conjuring up some feelings and visuals for their listeners, a rare technique that greats like Aphex Twin and Burial have achieved in their career. It feels as fresh and lively as the street it is based on – A sprawling, multi-cultural metropolis.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Sapphire Eyes’ (EP) (Released on September 29th, 2021) (via Self-Released)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you for joining me, and I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow as we take an in-depth look at the soon to be released new LP from a US female Funk, Soul and Alternative R&B singer-songwriter who performed a medley of her hits on an episode of major US talk show ‘The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon’ earlier this year. She completed her studies at USC Thornton School of Music in 2018, and she was also a contestant on ‘American Idol’ in 2014. Her latest album is named after her dog – Juno.

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Today’s Track: Tirzah (feat. Coby Sey) – “Hive Mind”

October 12, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Colourgrade’ (LP) (Released on October 1st, 2021) (via Domino Recordings)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and now is the time for me to get typing up for another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I honestly had not heard of the Essex-based Psych-Soul multi-instrumentalist Tirzah Mastin before hearing ‘Hive Mind’, also featuring her close knit friend Coby Sey, on a recent episode of New Music Fix that was hosted by John Ravenscroft, but I walked away intrigued. Just to give you some details, Tirzah was raised in Braintree as the youngest of five children, before she attended the Purcell School For Young Musicians with Mica Levi, who you may know as the film composer and DIY Noise-Pop maverick Micachu. She released a pair of EP’s on Greco-Roman, and her first full-length solo record, ‘Devotion’, debuted to rave reviews from the UK’s music press in 2018 via Domino Recordings. Her follow-up, ‘Colourgrade’, which was released two weeks ago on Domino Recordings once again, finds Tirzah straying even further away from the mainstream than before. ‘Hive Mind’ is also the title of a 10-minute short film edited by Leah Walker and Rebecca Salvadori which acts as a compilation of behind-the-scenes footage of a Tirzah concert from a few years ago, and it connects with her new album by exploring Tirzah’s relationships with her loved ones and her musical collaborators. By delving into ‘Colourgrade’, you are also delving forensically into Tirzah’s depictions of what the world means to her. I have embedded the short film to the bottom section of this page for your viewing pleasure. However, for the sake of convenience, I’ve embedded the basic audio for ‘Hive Mind’ below. Let’s give it a spin.

In her recent cover story for FADER, Tirzah Mastin explained, “The roughness, the accurate recording, the time it takes to get to places, it’s a bit of a statement on how things feel live”, elaborating, “It’s sort of unpolished. I’ve left it as alone as much as possible, basically, like a warts-and-all attitude towards it”, as she told the publication about how she approached the development of ‘Colourgrade’ with a raw, in-the-moment ethos to her songwriting strategies. This idea of stripping a flood of emotions down to the core is a key theme for ‘Hive Mind’, which functions as a rather bizzare and experimental duet between Tirzah and Coby Sey. The two trade intimate lyrics like “Two by two/Tethering like hive mind’s do” and “Given times we do/Sing different tunes” that feel playfully poetic over the top of a spiraling, glitched backdrop. The bassline has a gentle kick and a shuddering quality to the soulful minimalism, and the pieces are held together by a crying Arpeggio synth that feels harsh and rather abrasive in mood. The two vocalists sound intuitively tuned with one another, using lyrics like “But who we were/Do we see things through?” to add an ambiguous element to their complex relationship. The electronic melodies feel rather sparse and nocturnal, while the guitar licks and the emphasis on their harmonies create enough of a soulful backbeat for the cerebral production to feel melodic enough, although the brooding and gritty style of Tirzah and Sey’s duet remains undisturbed and fairly bleak. Their push-and-pull vocals imply a sense of kinship between the two partners through trials and tribulations. Overall, ‘Hive Mind’ is certainly not a mainstream offering, but it is certainly an intriguing one, with the steady metronomic pulse of the Synths creating a screeching bark and the icy, minimalist sketch format of the tune creating a tapestry of mood which commands your attention. Great minds think alike.

  • Pictured: Tirzah Mastin before an interview with Rolling Stone (2021) (Photo by Domino Recordings)

That’s all for today! Thank you for checking out what I had to share with the world today, and I’ll be back for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ tomorrow, as we look back at an all-female Punk band who were active from 1976 to 1979 and became an overseas sensation in Japan. A biographical coming-of-age flick about them was released in 2010 that was directed by Floria Sigismondi in her directorial debut. The film starred Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning and Michael Shannon and grossed $4.6m worldwide.

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Today’s Track: Sans Soucis – “On Time For Her”

September 30, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Sans Soucis in an official photoshoot for ‘I’m On’ (2021) (Photo via PR/GetInHerEars.com)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for yet another daily track because, as you’ve already guessed, it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It looks like you’re right on time for ‘On Time For Her’, the main title track of the debut EP from the brand new Neo-Soul/Avant-Pop singer-songwriter Sans Soucis. She is a London-based songstress of original Italian-Congolese heritage who moved to the UK at the age of 20. Her new EP – which was self-released last Friday – explores the end of a traumatic period of depression for Sans Soucis, caused by racial issues and childhood anxiety. This short-form project tackles her search for identity in Western society and her challenges of finding her authentic self, set to some soft Synth-led backdrops that are built upon a goal of “effortlessly blending the sounds of Congolese Rumba, Electronic, R&B and Alt-Pop with her perceptive lyricism” according to the official Sans Soucis website. The irony is that her creative alias of Sans Soucis is taken from her childhood nickname for “Carefree”. She is also notably part of the iluvlive Artist Development scheme, an initiative designed to support new artists to further their careers through their platform and networks. Check out her latest single below.

Sans Soucis’ real name is Giulia Grispino (Which is the Italian version of the English name for Julia) and her new EP is a life-affirming statement for her development. She tells us, “Regardless of how proficient you can be in a foreign language, it does take time for you to authentically convey your personality through it”, explaining, “Understanding culture and feeling in a foreign country can leave a person in limbo for a few years of their life and that’s what happened to me”, in her press notes. Luckily for Soucis, her music has received well-deserved praise from publishers like Wonderland, The Fader, BBC Radio 6 Music, Clash, Spotify’s New Music Friday, BBC Introducing London, The Line Of Best Fit, and a handful of others online. ‘On Time For Her’ feels more like a relaxing massage to your eardrums than a particularly harsh exploration of tense human introspection, with Soucis reciting her poetic lyrics with a tone of an unfurling, crystalline shaping. Her breathy, spacious vocals are given plenty of time to sink into your ears nicely with a radiant feel, with a warm sense of breeze being created by the stilted backing vocals. It is unclear if the backbeat is formed from a sample or a purely looped vocal originally created by Soucis, but it feels rather eclectic in terms of genre and it adds some entrancing warmth to the proceedings. The instrumentals are woven together by a multi-layered array of Staccato effects and tuneful Synths, which creates a nice sense of intimacy and vulnerability when the more ethereal vocal arrangements – within the chorus – begin. The lyrics are quite introspective, yet ambiguous, with a Lo-Fi Hip-Hop style of delivery that allows sequences like “No answer if you don’t look right” and “Feast in the darkness, sing alone” that imply some themes of displacement and self-security, and the titular refrain of ‘On Time For Her’ evokes the meaning of being committed to doing right by your own standards. Overall, this made for a lovely listen. I don’t think we’re quite there yet in making the instrumentation a little more interesting, but this is some feedback that Soucis will build upon constructively as her time goes on. The track feels hard to really box into a specific genre, and that is really appealing to me. I think that she simply has a very nice voice as well, and her perspectives on living in Western society as a foreign native allows her to convey a diverse variety of emotions. A rich combination of 00’s Bjork and Fana Hues – which is a kind compliment by itself.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for ‘On Time For Her’ (EP) (Released on September 24th, 2021) (via Self-Released)

Thank you for reading my latest blog post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at one of the weekend’s most hotly tipped new album releases for the ‘New Album Release Fridays’. This week, we’re tasting the debut LP release from a Brooklyn 5-piece who have gained serious popularity from NME and BBC Radio 6 Music in recent months. Brooklyn Vegan calls them one of New York’s “hardest working and most reliably fun bands”. They’ve even opened up stages for Beck and James Chance.

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