New Album Release Fridays: The Lazy Eyes – ‘Fuzz Jam’

April 22, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Songbook’ (LP/Album) (Released on April 22nd, 2022) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has finally arrived for us to take a walk on the psychedelic Gen-Z side of music as I take you through 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! While the new albums from Fontaines DC, The Psychedelic Porn Crumpets and Poppy Ajudha have each been coming out today and they are all shaping up to be good, nothing has quite sparked the same interest for me as the long-awaited and slightly delayed (as it was originally set to be released in March) debut album by The Lazy Eyes. ‘Songbook’ has been self-released through the Australian Psychedelic Rock band’s channels on this day – a record that, according to the Vinyl’s product description, “is evidence of an edifice slowly being formed, a trepidatious first footstep by the band into the wider world” as they match a 60’s Neo-Psychedelia influence with a kaleidoscopic aesthetic that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. The Lazy Eyes have developed a cult following and earned acclaim for their live sets since forming as a unit in 2015 when they met at Sydney’s Newtown High School of the Performing Arts. Not only have they sold out shows across the Australian east coast, but they are also responsible for the creation of their own live music festival LazyFest. They have also earned praise from numerous sources including KCRW, FBI Radio, BBC Radio 6 Music, Triple J Unearthed and NME. ‘Songbook’ follows the releases of 2020’s ‘EP 1’ and 2021’s ‘EP 2’, and the group’s profile will continue to grow when they support The Strokes on tour next year along with The Chats. Prepare yourself for the unadulterated liveliness of ‘Fuzz Jam’ below.

Matching the dynamic structure of ‘Fuzz Jam’ with a psychedelic monochrome outset for the music video, the band’s vocalist-guitarist Harvey Geraghty has discussed the foundations of the track’s vibrant soundscape, saying, “I wrote ‘Fuzz Jam’ to use this instrument that [guitarist Itay Sasha] bought live. It’s this Hohner Planet T, and we wanted a more hard track to play on it, instead of just singing songy songs”, in a press statement. Ever the humorous bunch, The Lazy Eyes take some influence from the sprawling, cinematic post Neo-Psychedelia of The Flaming Lips and a 60’s Beatles-esque Jangle Pop vibe to conjure up a heightened Noise-Rock collage of effects-filled Synth sounds and delay pedal-dominated guitar riffs that feels almost self-referential to its core influences. This one starts off with a threatening bassline accelerated by the animalistic Drums and seductively sultry lead guitar riffage that creates a very improvisational feel to the instrumentation where the tempo chops and changes throughout the track, endlessly segueing in and out of sparkly Psychedelic Pop and ‘turn up that dial’ good time rock. These grooves mutate and twists, so you never quite know what’s around the corner. Simple lyrics like “I want it all to be ok, I want to stay the same” and “Run for the door, You’ll be okay/Don’t be afraid to say my name” often get repeated, which leans loosely on the heavy and inciting soundscape while occasionally dipping into a sweeter harmony. It can often seem like you are listening to three or four different songs thrown in a blender together here as the overall instrumentation is fairly unpredictable and the rhythms are complex, not to mention the full-blast feel of the saturation effects which turn their Psych-Rock world upside down, but their vocals are played out with some subtle sense of comfort while the incendiary electronic elements penetrate the rhythmic bass grooves to a satisfying cohesion, despite the track having its lofty ambitions. These elements are all major thorough-lines in the track, and so the pacing never feels massively out-of-place as to make the track feel incomprehensible. Overall, this is all playful fun and it seems like the kind of track that really could not have been made 20 years ago, which is a quietly incredible feat. It never shakes off the meditative qualities which have set them apart.

Pictured: Harvey Geraghty (Lead Vocals/Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar), Itay Shachar (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Leon Karagic (Bass Guitar) and Noah Martin (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2022) (Photo Credit: PR)

Thank you for checking out my latest post, and please make sure to follow the blog on Twitter (the links are below) to get notified whenever my daily posts are uploaded and help me to dominate the social media algorithm, eventually allowing me to take over the world. In the meantime, I’ll be back tomorrow to review a recent single by an established Manchester-based Art-Rock band who have a Mercury Prize nomination and five Ivor Novello Awards nominations to their name. They follow in the same tradition of Django Django, Talk Talk and Years & Years in having a double title for their name. Thinking about it – this is actually great material for a Pub Quiz question.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

New Album Release Fridays: Nilufer Yanya – ‘The Dealer’

March 4, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Painless’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 4th, 2021) (via ATO Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to enjoy an in-depth preview for one of the weekend’s most exciting stand-out’s in an eclectic line-up of exciting new album releases with yet another daily track on the blog, which makes sense because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Painless’ is the second studio album to come from Nilufer Yanya, who is the daughter of two visual artists who have Turkish and Irish-Barbadian heritage, which is releasing today via ATO Records. What makes Yanya very interesting is how, despite growing up listening to traditional Turkish folk music and Classical music, she gravitated to guitar-based rock ‘n’ roll instead, and she learned how to play an instrument when she was just twelve years old. Yanya has spoken out in the press about the talent acquisition model that she experienced when she found fame via SoundCloud in 2014, how people have assumed that she makes R&B music due to her appearance and background, and the lack of diversity in modern music festivals across the UK, most recently, in a firm but fair interview with The Independent. However, Yanya goes for a different sound than you may expect and pushes some boundaries with a sound that I would describe as quite ‘loose’ and ‘restless’, as she incorporates a decent variety of influences including Trip Hop, Blues Rock, Neo-Soul and Progressive Jazz into her repertoire of releases. The 26-year-old West London-based singer-songwriter says, “Painless is a record that forces the listener to sit with the discomfort that accompanies so many of life’s biggest challenges whether it be relationship breakdowns, coping with loneliness, or the search for our inner self. It’s a record about emotion”, in the LP’s product description on the Rough Trade website. The bold and ambitious release is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Miss Universe’ and a string of EP’s that were compiled to essentially form up her 2021 release ‘Inside Out’. Check out the latest single from it – ‘The Dealer’ – that was attached to the visualizer below.

“When I was writing this song, I was thinking about the transient nature of life and the cyclical nature of the seasons”, Yanya says of her final pre-release single ‘The Dealer’ that follows previously unveiled tracks like ‘Midnight Sun’ and ‘Another Life’, and she adds, “I find it interesting how we attach certain memories and feelings to different seasons and tend to revisit them time and time again, yet our lives move in a more linear motion and even when we feel like we are going back we never really get to go back anywhere. Musically speaking, it’s a bit more playful and relaxed”, in her press statement. Establishing a high tempo quickly and right out of the gate with a fuzz-laden series of blurred and dreamy guitar chords that are complemented aggressively by some clattering hip hop-like drum beats, Yanya gets right down to business by crooning “It’s been weighing on my mind/Seems to be with me all the time” and “I thought you were someone to rely on/Does sadness pick you to the bone?” with a lovesick tone as she continually contemplates her cyclical nature of her thought process. The instrumentation is fast, but frequent, as the track develops and the guitar-drum’s combo have a high-speed energy that allows the pounding break-beats and shoegaze-influenced basslines to have a few merticulous time signature changes that can appeal to the most avid fans of Prog Rock structuring while suiting the lushly harmonic and expansive funk-rock style of her vocals and instrumentals. Lyrics like “Patience, there she goes/Cadence, set in stone” show Yanya trying to break out of the self-centric and specific modes of thinking about a relationship, and the more straightforward refrains like “I miss the kind of patience that breaks your heart/Baby, it’s me that is taking us apart” have a rhythmic delivery, but they still cut to the root of the problem that has been plaguing Yanya’s mind throughout the verses. Overall, ‘The Dealer’ has to be one of the strongest singles that I’ve heard from Yanya because she sounds clear and confident, while addressing vulnerability, in her vocals. I also like the adjacent guitar hooks and the angular drum beats that sound cool and casual, while gently veering towards a retro 90’s-disco style in their groove-like repetition. If ‘Painless’ builds upon ‘The Dealer’, a purchase of the LP is a deal that is hard to refuse.

Pictured: Nilufer Yanya in a promotional shoot for her live Latitude Festival set (2017) (Photo via ReadDork.com)

Thank you for reading my latest post, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of the day knowing that your continued support is always highly appreciated from me! Moving forwards, there is a new weekly entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ lined up for you on Sunday, but I’ve got a short and sweet one in the works for tomorrow where we’ll be reviewing the latest single from a Los Angeles native all-female indie rock band known for their 2010 essential track ‘Undertow’. They have supported Harry Styles and Foals on global tours, and their single ‘Lilys’ was featured in the HBO TV series ‘Made For Love’.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Young Prisms – ‘Honeydew’

March 1, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Drifter’ (LP) (Available from March 25th, 2022) (via Fire Talk Records)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into One Track At A Time, and this is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to sweeten the deal as we head into Pancake Day with 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! The San Francisco-based Shoegazers known as Young Prisms (Whose current line-up includes Stefanie Hodapp, Matt Allen, Giovanni Betteo and Jordan Silbert) have just recently returned from, what their A&R team describe as, a “sabbatical” of an entire decade ahead of the release of a new full-length studio album, ‘Drifter’, which is finally set to see the light of day when it releases on March 25th via Fire Talk Records. Formed back in 2009, in their original run, Young Prisms never quite reached the commercial success of some of the peer acts of the Dream-Rock and Acid-Rock music scenes. However, they gained positive reviews from sources like AllMusic and BUST Magazine, and they toured all over the US and Europe. They released two albums, a few 7″ records and one EP at the time, with their influences ranging from traditional Shoegaze bands like Mazzy Star and Slowdive to more progressive or cult acts including My Bloody Valentine, The Radio Dept and The Jesus & The Mary Chain. Heading into their new era, Young Prisms have enlisted the help of producer Shaun Durkan, a member of Weekend and a frequent collaborator of Soft Cell, to help them bring their imaginations to life. A press-release describes their long-awaited album as an exploration of “the tension and release that comes with bringing your head down from the clouds to make sense of the tangible entanglements that make up everyday existence”, and the lead single of ‘Honeydew’ has been accompanied by an official music video that was filmed in one take and it was directed by the group’s own Betteo and it stars band-mate Holdapp. Check it out.

The sublime music video for ‘Honeydew’ makes it clear that Young Prisms are going to be re-imagining their career trajectory as they re-enter the evolved Shoegaze genre after a ten year hiatus, and Betteo has said, “I always wanted to make a video that was focused on restraint, especially with choreography being key and shock so prevalent”, when talking about the behind-the-scenes stages of his somber video that was created with no cuts at all, and he concluded, “It feels like a bit of a contradiction for someone, who can’t seem to record a song without an excessive number of filters and effects, to make a video that is in black and white and wholly driven by minimalism”, in a press statement. Back to ‘Honeydew’ itself, and we start off with a winding sound as the delay pedal effects of the guitar riffs mimic the pace of a car revving up as the fuzzy guitar work arrangement transitions naturally into view, and Hodapp delves into the hazy Dream-Pop atmosphere as she sings enigmatic lyrics like “Take a turn back to 101/We’ve been here before/A show under the moonlight and stars” as the soundscape continually feels like it could blasting out of a car’s stereo on a sunny 90’s morning as the gauzy, rich vocals and the blissful guitar melodies, that are drenched in a wide array of effects and filters in the traditions of Shoegaze music. “Take my hand before you disappear and walk right out of here” precedes the optimistic and smile-inducing chorus, while the question of “Do you believe? I believe in you, honeydew” leaves us on a hopeful note. As far as Shoegaze goes, it is nice to see Young Prisms keeping their sound simple and they address the evolution of Shoegaze over the years when they were missing in action by retaining the warmth of their influences, as there’s definitely an underlying sense of positivity to the melodies in the soundscape. While treading their toes in retro – more so than progressive – ‘Honeydew’ finds the San Francisco quartet deliver a sturdy yet sentimental little statement about stretching their course further than they had originally run in the 10’s. Overall, ‘Honeydew’ is an engaging Shoegaze single of a classical style for its genre that neatly breathes some liberating energy into a band we thought were gone.

Pictured: Stefanie Hodapp (Lead Vocals/Producer), Matt Allen (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Giovanni Betteo (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Jordan Silbert (Drums/Percussion/Backing Vocals) (2022) (Photo by Jared Silbert)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and please keep in mind that I always highly appreciate your support very much, and so I thank you for spending some time by visiting the site today. Tomorrow, we take a break away from my recent recommendations for a short while as we revisit some of the seminal sounds of the past with ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, Join me then for the second appearance on the blog from a Brit-Pop band who were formed in the West Midlands in the late-80’s and their frontman became one of the UK’s national treasures when he kept us entertained by his Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties in the lockdowns of 2020.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Scuzz Sundays: The Verve – ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’

February 27, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Richard Ashcroft (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Keyboard/Percussion/Kazoo), Nick McKabe (Lead Guitar/Accordion), Simon Jones (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Peter Salisbury (Drums) (2008) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to revisit one of the Pop-Punk ghosts of the late-90’s for another installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’, as we remember what the Brit-Pop scene had to offer at the time for yet another daily track on the blog, since it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Active between 1990 and 1999 – with a reunion in the mid-00’s – The Verve fit squarely into the Brit-Pop movement that introduced bands like Oasis, Supergrass and Coldplay to the world at a nifty convenience. However, in 1997, they proved that rock music could get very emotional. Having appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, won an impressive number of BRIT Awards and issued one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history with 1997’s ‘Urban Hymns’, the band were able to reduce most of their fans to tears when the familiar sound of ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ was ringed out across the packed out stages of V Festival and Live At Reading. Ranked as #7 on Channel 4’s list of the ‘100 Greatest Number 1 singles’, the sombre sound of the single unintentionally captured the mood of the nation when the beloved Princess Diana died because it was released the very day after it had occurred. Featured on ‘Urban Hymns’, the single went straight to the top of the UK Singles Chart and it remains popular, having been placed at #78 on the ‘150 Best Tracks Of The Past 15 Years’ list that NME compiled in 2011. The music video carries on from the iconic street set-up of ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ as the beginning of the piece shows Ashcroft and his band-mates walking across the same street, with the events directly following the prior video. It’s nice to see a level of inter-connectivity there and we rarely see it now. Have a box of tissues at the ready and stream it below.

“Whenever we played that live, there would be rows of grown men crying”, Ashcroft said of the somber tone of the single, as per FreakyTrigger.co.uk, describing, “It was almost like these guys couldn’t cry when they needed to cry, but that song operated like a pressure valve for them and it was okay for them to cry at a big concert”, in an interview. Although often linked to a battle with recreational drug abuse, fans have also linked ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, which was reportedly written in 1995, with the passing of Ashcroft’s father, with the sensitive lyrics like “And I hope you’re thinking of me/As you lay down on your side” and “Now the drugs don’t work/They just make you worse/But I know I’ll see your face again” sounding like they could have been drafted together in Ashcroft’s mind as he sat beside his father in the hospital ward, and so these lyrics really pack a hefty punch given the bleak subject matter and Ashcroft’s promise to be re-united with him in the afterlife. The instrumentation isn’t really ‘Scuzz Sundays’ by nature, with a subtle String section and a steady guitar riff leading the downtempo melodies of the track, but it retains enough of the core elements of Rock music to meet that categorization, for the lack of a better term. Ashcroft was mostly known for throwing in some elements of Neo-Psychedelia into his motifs, but ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ was more intent on dragging him back to the inescapable darkness of life on Earth. The chorus seems arresting and personal, with refrains like “If you want a show/Just let me know/And I’ll sing in your ear again” that references a slightly chemical-defined relationship with his dad while nestling the smaller sequences into a bleaker, larger narrative and Ashcroft illustrates a maze with a loss of direction as he conveys a mixture of confusion and exhaustion, with the most profound note of hope, with his emphasized vocals. Overall, I am one of the most cold-hearted people out there, and even I can feel a light touch coming out of the screen of my laptop when I hear ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ because Ashcroft pales back his ‘rock god’ style of persona for a new spin on Pop-Punk and Brit-Pop where he feels intimate and learning about the track’s authorized subject use, beyond the obvious associations of drugs or chemicals, can really improve your relatability with it. Chilled yet very somber – ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ is brutal enough to make a grown man cry.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Urban Hymns’ (LP) (Released on September 29th, 1997) (via VC/Hut Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest weekly entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to start off the new week as we remember one of the most crucial releases from February as we shortly creep into March. It comes from a Japanese-American songwriter who releases her music on the Dead Oceans label, and The Guardian named her as the “best young songwriter” in the United States when her latest solo album – ‘Laurel Hell’ – was released and quickly entered the top ten chart of the UK, the US, Australia and Ireland earlier in the month.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Melody’s Echo Chamber – ‘Looking Backward’

February 19, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Emotional Eternal’ (LP) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via Domino Recordings)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to provide a soothing start to your Saturday with a huge new single by a returning artist for yet another daily track on the blog, given how it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I hope you enjoyed my post about Beach House yesterday – and if you love your Dream-Pop and your Chamber-Pop music of the Shoegaze-esque style, we’ve also got a new album from Melody’s Echo Chamber to look forwards to. This is the lush solo project from French songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Melody Prochet, who recorded her early work with then-boyfriend Kevin Parker of Tame Impala fame, who recorded her debut album in his makeshift studio in Perth, Australia for a release date in late 2012 – and she supported his band on a European tour in 2010. Another album followed since then – 2018’s ‘Bon Boyage’ – which was delayed by a brain aneurysm and a broken vertebrae following a serious accident, and so it’s amazing that nothing has hindered her ahead of ‘Emotional Eternal’, a new album that she will be releasing on April 29th via Domino Recordings. She has released material on Fat Possum Records previously, and her associated projects include My Bee’s Garden and The Narcoleptic Dancers. She is also known for her frequent collaborations with the Stockholm-based Alternative Rock band Dungen. Her music has gained acclaim by sources like Drowned In Sound, Q Magazine, Uncut and AllMusic, and Prochet has a sublime melting pot of influences including Cocteau Twins, Stereolab and Broadcast. Speaking of her upcoming album, she says, “I made some big and impactful decisions and changes to my life. It took me to where it is peaceful, and I think the record reflects this. It’s more direct”, in a press release. Check out the 3D-animated video by Hyoyon Paik for lead single, ‘Looking Backward’, below.

It is clear that creating ‘Looking Backward’ came from a mind-set of finding clarity after spending some time away from making music and enjoying a regular pace of life – given how the gauzy sounds represent a far more grounded and mindful creative process for Melody Prochet – and she also adds, “I wrote the lyrics on my way to Stockholm, in transit at the airport, there was a man creating light reflections with his watch and playing with light on the floors and walls. It felt like an act coming from a source of pure creativity, it made me happy to catch it and inspired me to write the song”, in her press release about the comeback track. Going straight back to the Psych-Pop and the Synth-based work that has made her a big name in music, Prochet begins with the wide-eyed and gauzy lyrics of “I’m reflecting light/Play it on the wall” and “Did you see me looking?/I’m not interested” that make her intentions clear as multi-layered vocals and a firm backing beat push her melodies forwards, creating a driving arrangement of luxuriating Synths and glistening guitar riffs. Lyrics like “Constellation of love/I know that dream/It can’t be real” and “I need the space of time/And you’re running out of time” bask in the shimmering sounds of the highly psychedelic Synth sequences and the Harp-like sound effects, set against the soothing backdrop that has a light Funk influence to it. Lyrically introspective, Prochet neatly matches some gently playful drums and synths with an intimate arrangement that makes heartfelt lyrics like “No, I didn’t need your light” and “You’re not alone/On this lonesome road” sound that little bit more brutal and, most importantly, human. In conclusion, ‘Looking Backward’ is a very welcome return from a clearly talented artist who is honestly experimenting with the concept of providing a more stripped back response to the dense arrangements of her previous work to explore elements of her own social life and a perception of her actual identity at a brisk pace, yet with careful consideration. This is fantastic work for any fans of MGMT, Tame Impala or Miami Horror – yet it has that vital ability to stand out on it’s own too.

Pictured: Melody Prophet performing a live set at FYF Fest (2015) (Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat)

That brings us, swiftly, to the end of another daily post on the blog today. Thank you for spending a few moments of your day to lend me your nifty pair of eyelids and eardrums, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we remember the past of the Pop-Punk genre for another weekly iteration of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ on the site. We’ll be revisiting a progressive anthem from a well-known Alternative Metal band from Huntington Beach, California who currently boast the former Bad Religion drummer of Brooks Wackerman among their line-up. They will make their debut appearance on the blog.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

New Album Release Fridays: Lady Wray – ‘Under The Sun’

January 28, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Piece Of Me’ (Released on January 28th, 2022) (via Big Crown Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke – as you’ll already expect if you’re a regular reader of the blog – and it’s time for us to sample one of the weekend’s most noteworthy new LP releases with 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! We’ve almost reached the end of the horrifically long month of January, but, at least we can always rely on Fridays for some potential new additions to our Vinyl collections. This week is really no different, as we have got the comeback album from Salinas-born R&B, Soul and Blues singer-songwriter Lady Wray (aka Nicole Wray, a California native) to look forward to hearing. Based in Virginia, Lady Wray turned heads very early on in her career when her debut single – 1998’s ‘Make It Hot’ – was certified Gold in sales. During her teenage years, Wray was introduced to then-emerging rapper Missy Elliott (Who has, of course, since attained Icon status in contemporary Hip-Hop music for her crossover success), who was searching for a new female singer to sign to The Goldmind Inc – Elliott’s own label. Wray impressed Elliott by performing SWV’s ‘Weal’ and, so, she was the first signee and she inked distribution deals with a larger label, Elektra Records. Arriving today through Big Crown Records, ‘Piece Of Me’ is the follow-up to 2016’s ‘Queen Alone’. In the time since, Wray gave birth to her daughter Melody Bacote in June 2018 and, during April 2020, she married musician Daniel Bacote. Therefore, it will be rather interesting to find out how Wray has matured as an artist through these experiences. She brings the warmth with ‘Under The Sun’ below.

Complemented by a liberating and fun-filled music video that was directed by Daniel Oramas, Wray says about the cheerful single that appears on her new album ‘Piece Of Me’ which is out today, “I wrote ‘Under The Sun’ thinking of summertime and all its perks. When I first heard the production, I immediately thought of warm weather and partying with my friends – just letting go and having a good time”, as she explained to Rated R&B, concluding, “I’m so happy to get this out because we need great, feel-good music these days. Something to make good memories to”, in the interview. As we get off to a bright start with an oriental guitar melody and a Jazz-laden Horn backdrop, Wray soaks in the sun with lyrics like “The sun is out/The wind is free” and “Feel like living under the sun/Feel like laughing under the sun” as she paints a picture-esque visual of deck chairs on the beach and Ice Cream while walking along the prom as colourful lyrics collide with polished percussion to create some atmospheric melodies. Her tone, especially as she croons soulful refrains like “Have a drink, close your eyes/Let yourself be hypnotized” and “Purple clouds, purple dreams/Laying back under the tree” are decidedly mellow, but Wray gives them an upbeat delivery that makes them feel almost as if they rhyme. Uplifting yet downtempo, Wray presents to us an endearing concoction of Neo-Soul and Motown vibes here as she luxuriates in the song’s energy with the simple theme of finding the joy in the small things when the sun’s rays give you a positive mind-set, with some intricate Horn sections and elevated, layered vocals that simply makes you want to change your attitude and, perhaps, turn the volume up in the process. I would say, however, that given how we’re in the midst of the cold and bland month of January that we all seem to dislike, it doesn’t really feel like the proper ‘mood music’ of the time since Wray is celebrating the power of warmth and creating cheerful melodies to mimic the sun’s presence here, and it’s unfortunate to think how the song may have come and gone a little too much by the time that June and July finally roll around to us in 2022. That said, it is also a gentle reminder that the weather will soon change and, in the process, it achieves its goal of being a very light-hearted and charming take on the 00’s summertime R&B style. Although it’s probably coming out at the wrong time as the rain pours down and the wind continually howls here in the UK, it would play better to audiences in places like Australia, where the summertime is currently hitting its peak right now. Wray just also has a distinctly no-nonsense style that sticks out beyond her contemporary peer acts too. An earworm of a vibrant track.

Pictured: Lady Wray (Nicole Wray) in a photoshoot for The Village Voice (2016) (Photo via Big Crown Records)

That is all for today! Thank you for indulging in some radiance with me on the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for the penultimate entry of daily posts before our next installment of my long-running ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature on the following day. We’re going to be analysing some fresh material from a veteran and well-known indie rock band who were formed in Leeds during 2007 who are currently performing as a trio. They won the Mercury Prize in 2012 with their debut album – ‘An Awesome Wave’.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: The Spirit Of The Beehive – ‘I Suck The Devil’s C***k’

December 30, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ (LP) (Released on April 9th, 2021) (via Saddle Creek Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and you’re tuned into the final part of my underrated underground series leading up to New Year’s Day as I deliver 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! ‘I Suck The Devil’s ****’ is a title as irreverent as they come, and one that I write about hesitantly due to the demonic implications of the name, however, this is the most suitable representation of ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ – the latest album from the Pensylvania-based Prog Rock band The Spirit Of The Beehive – that we’re going to get. An insanely beautiful yet intensely difficult project to wrap your head around, the record reflects late-night paranoia music that is enigmatic and cryptic. It is also intimate without giving any significant details away, and that’s made it a favourite among the year-end lists of high-brow critics this year. Taking their name from a Spanish cinematic masterpiece released in 1973 with the same title, the band are signed up to Saddle Creek Records and boast Zack Schwartz among their lineup who honed his Vaporwave craft as a former member of Glocca Morra. A reclusive release that has gained universal acclaim this year – and one of my back-and-forth favourite listens of 2021 – ‘ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH’ is the band’s first album without the former drummer Pat Conaboy and rhythm guitarist Kyle Laganella who left the band in 2020. The second single – ‘I Suck The Devil’s ****’ – is a four-part song that essentially feels like four different singles sewn together through post-production trickery. The workout-in-hell themed music video was also helmed by a trio of different directors (Part 1 is by Ada Babar, Part 3 is by Documavision and Parts 2 and 4 by Noah Burke) that each unfold in four chapters along with the music recording. You will just have to see how it all fits together below.

In what initially feels like a labyrinth of a near 7-minute recording, the band notes, “It’s our take on ‘A day in the life’. A man, overworked and undervalued discovers a portal to another time and a place where he hears a familiar song on the radio. In the context of the record, this track specifically encapsulates the dread of required performance, ultimately leading to a freeing death”, in a joint press statement. As the band channel a multitude of influences including Post-Hardcore and Vaporwave among many others, the band deliver a lengthy ego death sentence that blurs the lines between homespun Lo-Fi Rock to mangled Dream-Pop to aggressive Post-Rock to dis-associative Ambient Pop – all while wrapped in a noise collage Shoegaze thread – to create a very psychedelic journey that takes listeners from upside-down textures to inside-out downbeat sounds. Through these ever-winding spirals of self-reflection, the group pull us from one realm of bizzare fantasy to another, while creating enough compelling rhythms and bold, if fairly obscured, textures that make up the highly experimental piece of twisted Psych-Rock and melodic bursts of Post-Rock that echo glimmering fragments of Tame Impala and Black Country, New Road among other diverse comparison points. There aren’t any particularly memorable lyrics, but there are multiple planes of eclectic instrumentation that underscore the more emotive qualities of lyrics like “Scared of needles, but not of everything” and “Another middle class dumb American, falling asleep” to a notably playful effect, and so the complete package is more enticing, lyrically, than the wonky title of the track may lead you to believe. The music, however, sounds just as mischievous – mixing up some ethereal guitar rock with peculiar tangents that keep you guessing what may come next as the trio continue to create unpredictable shifts in tone. At each point in this release, I would forgive you for thinking you were listening to a different track with each few beats skipped, but it is a testament to the band’s abilities to create something so captivating through playing with cohesion, as the track cycles through its chaotic vignettes to build to an acknowledgment of an insignificant fate of the lead character, if you will. If you have been on the fence about Spirit Of The Beehive at any point, this kind of rare recording will certainly help any listeners to decide to be on the right one.

Pictured: Zack Schwartz (Co-Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Samples), Rivka Ravede (Co-Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar/Percussion), Corey Wichlin (Keyboard/Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Kyle Laganella (Bass Guitar) and Pat Conaboy (Drums/Electronic Drum Kit/Backing Vocals) (in 2018) (Photo Credit: Natalie Piserchi and Isabel Liang)

That brings us to the end of a very interesting post. It was nice to deviate from my typical formula a little with this segmented single, and I thank you for joining me by reading the results. Tomorrow, we’ll be looking back at a mid-00’s winter Folk classic in the spirit of the New Year’s Eve and Christmas season. The single comes from a well-known and critically acclaimed Seattle-formed Alternative Folk band who took a hiatus between 2013 and 2016 when the frontman pursued an undergraduate degree.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Countdown To Christmas 2021: Cocteau Twins – “Frosty The Snowman”

November 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Snow” (EP) (Released in December, 1993) (via Fontana Records)

Good Morning to you! I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to revisit a unique spin on a vintage Carol as we ‘Countdown To Christmas’ with another 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! ‘Frosty The Snowman’ really is a tale as old as time, but a lesser-known cover version of the track came from the 90’s Shoegaze legends Cocteau Twins back in 1993. Drawing influence from early alternative rock bands like Joy Division and Siouxsie and The Banshees, Cocteau Twins scored a UK top 30 hit with ‘Pearly Dewdrops Drops’ in 1984. They also produced critically acclaimed albums such as ‘Heaven Or Las Vegas’ and ‘Treasure’ on indie labels like 4AD and Fontana Records. However, the ‘Snow’ EP they released in December 1993 has become a rarity. A double single release featuring covers of ‘Winter Wonderland’ and ‘Frosty The Snowman’, the short-form release was only available in extremely limited quantities and Pitchfork have named their take on ‘Frosty The Snowman’ as the 36th best holiday song of all time. Another interesting fact about the record is that one story says Robin Guthrie, the trio’s bassist, was very reluctant to record any kind of true Christmas songs, and so Liz Frser and Simon Raymonde opted to record non-specific winter songs instead. Let’s hear their distinctive spin on ‘Frosty The Snowman’ below.

Although the ‘Snow’ extended play had received a pretty positive reception from the contemporary music press of the time, one expert suggested that fewer than 5,000 copies were ever put together. Nowadays, the record is out of print but the two songs later appeared on the ‘Lullabies To Volaine’ boxset compilation that 4AD released in October 2005. As for the cover of ‘Frosty The Snowman’ as an individual piece, Cocteau Twins strike an equal balance between familiar and ethereal. The lyrics are the same ones that we all know already, but the instrumentation adopts a darker daydream approach to the songwriting and this provides for a great contrast against the playful, child-like style of the overly joyous original track. Beginning with a radiant Piano riff, the band match the customary lyrics of the traditional anthem with a flood of vocal effects and distorted guitar riffs that create a chiming array of breezy bass guitar melodies and a dizzying bassline. In terms of the vocals, Liz Fraser almost replicates the vibe of the wind swooping all around the title character of Frosty as her multi-layered effects include some nice breaks where Fraser spaciously croons atop the programmed drum sequences alone, and it’s a highlight of the song. We have always known Cocteau Twins to be a group who were never focused on singing conventional lyrics, and so they fill their take on ‘Frosty The Snowman’ with their own gravitas here as you may expect. You could never properly hear any of their lyrics anyways in usual terms, but it is a common trope of the band that plays a decent role here. They are fairly easy to make out, but she really twists those words around with a variety of different shapes and, at times, these moulds are equally as unintelligible as the fascinating beats that swirl around her pitch. To conclude, the Scottish Alt-Rock icons did a pretty spectacular job with this rendition of ‘Frosty The Snowman’ as it brings some solid insight into the unique vocal style and diverse instrumentation of the associated band, while also sounding recognizable and warm by covering such a widely known carol, and so it fits the theme of the festive season without explicitly mentioning Christmas, so they succeed in making the beat sound as cheerful as ever.

Pictured: Elizabeth Fraser (Lead Vocals/Writer), Robin Guthrie (Lead Guitar/Producer/Drum Machine) and Simon Raymonde (Bass Guitar) in a press shoot for “Garlands” (1982) (Photo by Chris Garnham)

If you can’t get enough of this, why not check out my thoughts on ‘Lorelei’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/08/01/todays-track-the-cocteau-twins-lorelei/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Treasure” (LP) (Released on 1st November, 1984) (via 4AD)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your continued support for the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to delve deeply into the highly anticipated return track from a London-based Electronic Afro-Jazz collective who last released ‘Doko Mien’ in 2019 on Merge Records. They performed at KEXP’s ‘International Clash Day’ concert of the same year.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Bardo Martinez – “Patterns Of Being”

October 5, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Everywhere Reminds Me Of Space’ (LP) (Released on July 23, 2021) (via Yemaya Sol Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and I’m reaching out to you on the day that ‘Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania’ gets released 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! A week earlier to this day, we took an in-depth look at the new solo LP record – ‘South Sinner Street’ – from Marlowe’s Solemn Brigham, one half of one of my favourite Hip-Hop acts in recent times. This week, we are adapting that formula for Bardo Martinez, who is the frontman of the Latin American Prog-Rock outfit Chicano Batman, who have also garnered praise on the blog beforehand. The band have always drawn from a mix of genres including Psych-Soul, Neo-Rock, Funk and Indie music, which the 4-piece have taken to the stages of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and Ruido Fest over the course of the past few years. This July, Bardo quietly released ‘Everywhere Reminds Me Of Space’ on his own label Yemayá Sol Records – a self-produced little collection of 11 tracks that have allowed him to experiment more freely with some of the solo material which he has been compiling together for a few years on his own, with the global state of the Covid-19 lockdowns giving him ample time to explore his early Hip-Hop influences with a heavily beat-focused approach. One of the singles that Bardo finally had a decent amount of time to finally nurture was ‘Patterns Of Being’, the lead single from the album. Bardo began writing the lyrics and the chords for the track in 2015, before he recorded the music in 2019 and he got around to finishing it last year. Give the psychedelic trip a spin below.

Bardo aimed to dip into the same bold originality that makes Chicano Batman work so effectively for the vibrant, rhythmic-driven release, and he told GrimyGoods.com in an interview about the album, “With this record, I wanted to showcase the beats and spoken word cinematic vision quests along with some tunes I had stashed away in the vault”, adding up to his notes, “A little Casio keyboard, a Maestro Echoplex, and my monophonic Synths were tracked all over the record in order to keep it together. Many artists delve into the ether with existential quandaries about life, love and nature, I am no exception”, in his press statement. ‘Patterns Of Being’ wouldn’t have sounded out of place on 2020’s ‘Invisible People’ with his comrades from Chicano Batman, with Bardo reciting eccentric lyrics about self-gratitude and acceptance with a touch of gently philosophical musing. Catchy refrains like “Everybody’s everything and everything is everybody” and “We’re like lava pouring on the floor/Anything just comes out to its core” feel sharp and tease some conceptual thinking about humanity running parallel to geographical nature. The chorus focuses more squarely on the rhythmic delivery, as Bardo sings “Every time you’ve lost your mind/You’ve always managed to remember those/Patterns of being that makes you you” in a lush and free-form tone. The instrumentation feels deliberately playful too and even child-like at points. The Casio keys are joyous and tinny, while the Synth melodies feel harsh and wonky at times. This technique gives the track its sonic, psychedelic identity that isn’t a far cry from the engaging material that he produces with Chicano Batman. The wah-wah guitars and the extra electronic keys add some more upbeat beats and soft distortion which are influenced by his love of soul-oriented rap music. On the whole, ‘Patterns Of Being’ is dead good, and it reminds me of how leading musicians of wider bands sometimes flourish from having a solo platform to experiment more freely, with Box Car Racer and Iggy Pop standing out as key examples of this. It sounds like Chicano Batman in some aspects, but it has more of a DIY and an intimate feel to it subsequently. A dizzying array of sounds that seem out of this world, while grounded.

Pictured: Bardo with Carlos Arévalo, Eduardo Arenas & Gabriel Villa (2020) (Photo via ATO Records)

Pictured: Chicano Batman in a Tiny Desk Concert gig for NPR Music (2017) (Photo via YouTube.com)

That’s all that I’ve got for today – but we will be taking a break from the recent music recommendations for a new entry in our ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ library tomorrow. This week’s pick is a celebration of an iconic 1982 Hip-Hop track that became known as one of the genre’s first outings to be written about the poverty of inner city living, thus introducing the ideas of social commentary to conscious Hip-Hop music, written as a stark response to the 1980 New York City transit strike, as mentioned in the lyrics.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

New Album Release Fridays: Soccer96 (feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis) – ‘Sitting On A Satellite’

September 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Dopamine’ (LP) (Released on September 24th, 2021) (via Moshi Moshi Records)

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 on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It has been a very slow week, and so I’m looking forward to taking it all down a notch with the help of the new highly anticipated album release from the London-based Drum and Synth duo Soccer96. There’s also new albums from Public Service Broadcasting, Wigan local heroes The Lathums, Marlowe’s lyricist Solemn Brigham, Merge Records’ label boss Mac MacCaughan, intriguing World-infused UK Drum & Bass producer Zen Dub, and more hitting both digital and physical storefronts for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ this week. As aforementioned, Soccer 96’s new album is one of the few LP releases that I can childishly say that I’ve been ‘Hyped up’ for in a while, based on the quality of their prior work, the singles taken from the album so far, and the general excitement about this release in Alternative music circles. Soccer96 is the side project of keyboardist Dan Leavers (‘Danalogue’) and drummer Max Hallett (‘Betamax’) from the Prog-Jazz trio The Comet Is Coming who, for those still uninitiated, are a terrific London-based Nu-Jazz trio also involving Shabaka Hutchings (‘King Shabaka’) who were nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2016 and were signed to Impulse! Records in 2018. Leavers has produced albums for Ibibio Sound Machine and Snapped Ankles, while Hallett has played the Drums with the likes of Sons Of Kemet and Yussef Kamal, and so the two musicians are very active on the UK’s underground scene. Together, Soccer96 specialise in a really diverse blend of Prog-Jazz, Instrumental Grime, Dark Ambient and Electronica that always feels as fresh and eclectic as ever. Their new album, ‘Dopamine’ – also featuring collaborations with Salami Rose Joe Louis and Nuhu Ruby Ra – is being released digitally today, with a short stint of physical transparent blue/marble brown Vinyl copies set to follow on 15th October, which are limited to just 300 copies on Rough Trade’s website. Check out the latest single below.

‘Dopamine’ is a concept album exploring the narrative of an artificial intelligence programme taking over a human nervous system, a sci-fi vision of a codependency between humans and machines, as the robots only source of dopamine is from people, and vice versa. It began life as a sonic reaction to the graphic novels of Moebius’ Jean Giraud, and the duo displayed one of the revered French artists’ paintings in the middle of their studio when recording the album for inspiration. Hallett told XLR8R, “All musical decisions would centre around this image. It was a depiction of a cosmic traveler gazing across a desert at a sort of crystal city. If the music was resonating with the image then we knew we were on the right path” in an interview. As a single itself, ‘Sitting On A Satellite’ is very obedient to these visual ideas, with the two very talented players conjuring up an Astral set of themes with the Space-Age synths, the hazily atmospheric tones and the pulsating drum rhythms that give the duo the platform to express themselves creatively with no ties to their previous projects, giving them ample creative freedom in their approach. The vocals, meanwhile, are highly processed and they seem to depict the double alter-ego system of an AI gaining human consciousness. Together, everything makes for a very hypnotic and entrancing blend of refreshing keyboard sections, laidback Drum grooves and intoxicated vocals that give off a wonky feel to the eclectic graphical influences. There feels like less of a Grime influence that we heard on The Comet Is Coming, but the London Jazz blueprints are still intact, with a colourful set of ambient instrumentals and broad sweeps of percussion that bring the duo’s niche cyber-imagination of androids to life. All in all, this is an inventive and visually creative twist on Progressive Jazz – with some vibrant experimentation and some Gorillaz-esque vocals that just orbit around the listeners ears with a calm confidence.

Pictured: Dan Leavers (Keyboard/Synths) and Max Hallett (Drums) (2021) (Photo by William Barnes)

As mentioned above, we’re all great fans of The Comet Is Coming on the blog, and, to help them take off, we’ve covered some more of their spacey stuff on the blog. Check out ‘Lifeforce Part II’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/09/28/todays-track-the-comet-is-coming-lifeforce-part-2/

Pictured: Betamax & Danalogue with King Shabaka Hutchings in The Comet Is Coming (2019) (via PR)

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me on the blog, and I’ll be back for more tomorrow. Join me then for something a little more radio-friendly (But still quite cool) single from a Liverpool-formed indie band who have been around since 2003. The band, known for the frontman’s smarky witticisms and realistic depictions of young adult issues, have released music for 14th Floor Records and Bright Antenna Records, and the veteran rockers have sold over one million copies of their albums worldwide.

Connect with One Track At A Time:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE