Today’s Track: Klaxons – “Gravity’s Rainbow”

October 18, 2019 — Leave a comment

I’ll always be there for you, my present readers! It’s finally time for your Friday post!

Picture: Cover Artwork for “Myths Of The Near Future” (2007)

Back in January 2007, the new sound of Nu-Rave was presented by Klaxons, a new band who went on to win that year’s Mercury Prize award for their debut LP record, “Myths Of The Near Future”, an experimental indie rock LP record that became highly influential and was released to high critical acclaim, as well as becoming fairly popular in the commercial mainstream. It also influenced the fashion of young adults at the time, with wilder colour schemes and post-grunge stylings becoming the norm for new clothing lines hitting store shelves at the time. Unfortunately, a duo of follow-up records flopped both critically and commercially, leaving the group to reportedly split up in 2014, with their official status being a vague “indefinite hiatus” in the years since. This leaves the band with a status of being a past winner of the Mercury Prize that both time, and the general public, forgot. It’s been a long 12 years since the record, which still feels fairly new to me, was being released. Although “Golden Skans” and a cover version of Grace’s 1995 cult classic “It’s Not Over Yet” were bangers, they are also the most painstakingly obvious hit singles from the record that have been a little overplayed over the last decade or so. Therefore, I’ve decided to look at “Gravity’s Rainbow”, the fourth single from the LP record, which merely scraped the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, reaching the position of #35, back in 2007.

“Gravity’s Rainbow” is an electro-pop heavy, upbeat indie dance track that embodies a very quirky style of lyricism, exemplified by key lines such as “Come with me/Come with me, come with me, we’ll travel to infinity” and “I’ll always be there for you, my future love” are vocal hooks as humorous and goofy as they are weirdly psychological, as the track provides loads of dated references to the likes of “Gravity’s Rainbow”, a novel by an American author called Thomas Pynchon. As a result of this, it’s a track that feels ripe for sampling and remixing by crazier electronic dance music artists. As a complete package, the sound of the track is bolstered by clattering soft-rock melodies and bouncing grooves of psychedelia which reflect a more kinetic feel to the low-brow evocation of the space-themed lyricism. The vocal hook is infectiously catchy and the colourful sonic palette of the record is clean and smooth, but I can’t shake the feeling that it sounds a little too mainstream and it’s difficult for me to take any of the lyrics very seriously, as I’ve been struggling to find any deeper connection or meaning behind the writing, other than an upbeat tone created by the comic-book tone of the cosmic-focused wordplay. Overall, it is a bit of a shame that Klaxons may only ever get classified as a one album wonder because “Gravity’s Rainbow”, as well as many of their other singles from their debut LP record, are very good tracks, even if they are a little light on the dance-heavy nature which the “nu-rave” label may imply. Unfortunately, it does sound like a relic of the era it came from.

Pictured: Jamie Reynolds (Vocals), James Righton (Keyboard) and Simon Taylor-Davies (Guitar)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with an in-depth look at a cult classic track from a niche British IDM group who used to famously combine the different features of 3D graphics, photography, writing and digital image editing to create the album artwork for their dystopian and post-apocalyptic-themed LP records. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Butch & C.Vogt – “Desire”

October 17, 2019 — Leave a comment

If the spontaneous discovery of music, old or new, is one of your greatest desires, then you know what to do: like the Facebook page for One Track At A Time and give the blog a follow! It’s time for your daily post!

“Desire” is the new single by Butch & C. Vogt, two Latino electronic dance artists who are really blowing up, with this song in particular, on the international club scene. There’s not much information about the two EDM masters readily available on the internet, but they are currently signed to the Running Back indie record label. The track is a reworked rendition of a track by Andy Gibb, “Desire”, which was released in 1980.

“Desire” is a track that unifies several vibes and combines different flip sides of the EDM and IDM genres, as well as disco and synthpop-based influences, to a near-faultless degree of immediate sequencing and solid execution. The track evokes R&B, deep house, acid house, techno and world, all in one place by an effective clean sweep, created by the breakbeat-style engineering of the distorted vocal sections and the funk sensibilities created by the arrangement of the drum, dub and vocal melodies. It’s easy to see why the track has become so popular with a cult following in such a short span of time, as the track oozes charisma in it’s teases of bassline drops and the switch-up’s in the pacing and layout, as Butch & C. Vogt cleverly tease and trick you into expecting the ambient melody to reach a more heavy texture, but the melodies are pulled quickly enough to return you back to the infectiously groovy melodies of the record. The full version of the track comes in at a staggering length of 8 minutes, but if it puts you off a little bit, make sure you check out the radio edit so that you can still get an experience from this mega hit of a record! Overall, it’s a fantastic track that feels new within it’s genre and seems likely to become very influential in the next few years.

Pictured: Butch (left) and C. Vogt (right)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with an in-depth look at a track from an English indie rock/new wave/electro-pop group who, forgettably, won the Mercury Prize in 2007 for their debut LP record! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Miami Horror (feat. Clear Mortifee) – “Luv Is Not Enough”

October 16, 2019 — Leave a comment

Luckily for you, a post a day is more than enough! Here is your Wednesday blog post!

Pictured: Cover Art For “Luv Is Not Enough” – Single (2019)

Australians make the best Synthpop music! That seems to be one of the unwritten rules of the pop music industry of this current generation, as it’s been proven by groups like Cut Copy, MGMT and Empire Of The Sun. Another good example is Miami Horror, an Australian electronic pop group which was founded by Benjamin Plant, originally as a solo project, in 2007. I used to be a massive fan of Miami Horror and I would place them among my list of favourite groups following the hazy summertime blast of their debut LP record, 2011’s “Illumination” and the subtle synth poignancy of “All Possible Futures”, their second LP release in 2015. However, after a little string of releases that I felt were mediocre and weren’t very sure about, the band have somewhat slipped down my radar a bit in recent years. They are back after a short absence with their new single, “Luv Is Not Enough”, which is the lead single for a forthcoming yet-to-be-titled third LP currently set for release in 2020. The track also features the vocal talents of Clear Mortifee, a non-binary songwriter from the indie R&B scene. Is this the banger which catapults Miami Horror back into my all-time list?

Short answer: Probably, but with a little bit more work. The track has a very glittery sound, with clear 70’s disco influences and a super clean surface of electronic production work. The track has a very upbeat emotion, similar to “Restless”, the prior single, but with a quality that makes the layered synths feels more cohesive overall, which is provided by the simplistically retro-cut funk and the subtle references, in sound, to a few of the defining soul records of the 60s, created by the likes of Otis Redding and Sly & The Family Stone. The track channels a real disco energy and its infectiously groovy to nod your head along to as a very satisfying instance of pop-dance music. It lacks a little bit in the lyrics department for me, as I don’t feel as though Clear Mortifee really adds a whole lot to the track, with their vocals feeling a little bit generic in places. This is more down to the material she has to work with, as the lyrics are generally lacking a little bit in the department of playfulness. Overall, I would have liked the writing on the track to feel a little bit more unique, but it’s somewhat paling in comparison to the brave direction of the synthesized melodies and the blissfully calm tone created by the ultra-smooth electronic arrangements, which encompass a variety of genres popularized in the 60s, 70s and 80s, with the record ultimately sounding retro, but unique and original enough, at the same time!

Pictured: Benjamin Plant (Synths, Bass, Production), Joshua Moriarty (Vocals, Guitar), Daniel Whitechurch (Keyboard, Synths) and Kosta Theodosis (Drums)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at a fresh Latino dance jam that’s really blowing up on the international club scene! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/