Scuzz Sundays: Priestess – “Lay Down”

October 10, 2021 — Leave a comment

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to please the ancient gods of Rock with another ‘Scuzz Sundays’ post on the blog, where the revisit the Pop-Punk productions of the past, as it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! It is a busy day of work and visiting family for this aspiring music writer today, and so I’m not going to keep you too long. The long and short of the matter is that ‘Lay Down’ – this week’s pick – was the leading single taken from the debut album of the Canadian Post-Grunge meets Stoner Rock quartet Priestess, which was titled ‘Hello Master’ and was issued by RCA Records in 2005. The project started out as a dedicated “retro rock” project that emulated 70’s classic rock bands like Black Sabbath and AC/DC, before the band jumped into the unfamiliar surroundings of the recording studio with producer Gus Van Go (Arkells, Michael Rault) for their first full-length effort. Luckily for them, it spawned a few successful singles and it received generally positive reviews from critics before the more daring follow-up – ‘Prior To The Fire’ – emerged in 2009 and was disliked by their label for its edgy lyricism and more experimental content. The band are currently on an indefinite hiatus, but 2005’s ‘Lay Down’ is their best known single, and it got a music video directed by Wendy Morgan. Give it a spin down below.

Priestess saw relatively little chart success aside from 2006’s ‘Talk To Her’, which peaked at #33 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, but the profile of the band was raised significantly when ‘Lay Down’ was prominently featured on ‘Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock’ on past gaming platforms, a business-savvy move which Priestess see as a proud achievement, stating in interviews that consumption of the media format amongst young people serves as a great introduction to their classic rock influences and the genre as a whole. ‘Lay Down’ is one of their tunes that notably deals with violent lyrics and mature themes, with frontman Mikey Heppner singing about a mourner – at graveside – who is trying to make the dead corpse peacefully rest in their coffin as our protagonist slowly gets to grips with the loss that has occurred and how it has affected their mental wellbeing. The guitar riffs are punchy, but not overbearingly ferocious, with Heppner singing the sorrowful lyrics over the top of some thumping Drum beats and some soaring guitar chords, although there’s notably no electronic interference in play here either. The lyrics deal with grief and, in a way, love with a familiar ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll edge’ that sees a mid-tempo guitar solo and fetching bass guitar riffs controlling the tempo. Overall, I felt this was a solid three and a half style sort of effort by Priestess. I was ultimately listening late at night on Saturday and I had my headphones sinked into my ears, and it still tested pretty well. The production is fairly average because the vocals sound pretty raw and the instrumentation does not have a great amount of variety to it, but the rhythms are simply catchy and memorable enough for me to remember immediately after hearing the band play. The vocals have a fairly straightforward and typical style for the 70’s influences of the band, but they never feel outdated beyond the style in any way. The lyrics themselves are a little bleak, but the solid guitar riffs drive the beat forward to a good melodic style where it comfortably gallops along the track’s tight duration with a solid flow. On the whole, there’s nothing that feels drastically new or different to their contemporaries here, but the lack of auto-tune is welcome and the band don’t write lyrics about sleazy women or being a rebel in a stereotypical sense for the time and so they manage to stand out from their peers. An engaging slice of vintage Rock.

Pictured: Mikey Heppner (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar), Dan Watchorn (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Mike Dyball (Bass Guitar) and Vince Nudo (Drums/Percussion) (2009) (Photo via Priestess.ca/story)

That’s all for now! I hope that you have a pleasant weekend, and please join be back here again tomorrow for an in-depth listen to some new music from a gifted Canadian electronic music producer who landed a spot on my ‘Best Albums Of 2020’ list with his latest LP release ‘Suddenly’. He is signed to Merge Records and he will be touring the US and Europe next year. He is probably best known for the 2010 recording ‘Sun’.

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Today’s Track: Amyl & The Sniffers – “Guided By Angels”

October 7, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Comfort To Me’ (LP) (Released on September 10th, 2021) (via Rough Trade Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and, as you’ve probably figured out by now, it is my time to deliver yet another daily track on the blog to your eye line, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Amyl & The Sniffers are an Australian Pub Rock group who aren’t necessarily changing the face of Rock ‘N’ Roll, but they are certainly sticking out a middle finger to the watered down imitations of that genre in the current mainstream Pop/Rock market. Led by vocalist/songwriter Amy Taylor – the band also consists of drummer Bryce Wilson, bassist Fergus Romer and rhythm guitarist Dec Martens – and they have been gaining popularity with Garage Rock and Punk Rock fans since the release of their self-titled debut studio album in 2019, which scooped up the ‘Best Rock Album’ award at the ARIA Music Awards of that year. You might have also heard Amy Taylor on a track – ‘Nudge’ – from Sleaford Mods’ latest album ‘Spare Ribs’ that was released back in January of this year. More commercial and critical success has followed with ‘Comfort To Me’, the band’s follow-up album, which was released on September 10th on ATO Records and Rough Trade Records. It was written while the band were quarantined together during the Covid-19 pandemic and the 13-song track listing was lyrically inspired by Taylor’s Hip-Hop heroes and the countless DIY Post-Punk bands that have existed throughout the decades. It feels like a love letter to old-school Hard Rock, Post Hardcore and Psych-Rock bands, as they build a reputation of becoming Australia’s leading export since AC/DC. Check out ‘Guided By Angels’ below.

Offering her personal insight on Amyl & The Sniffers’ latest album ‘Comfort To Me’, frontwoman Amy Taylor says “The nihilistic, live in the moment, positivity and panel beater rock-meets-shed show punk was still there, but it was better” when telling Stereogum about the pandemic-era production process of the group by churning out some eccentric rhythms for exhilarating new material in the middle of global turmoil, she added, “The whole thing was less spontaneous and more darkly considered”, making it seem evident that recent events forced the 4-piece to really sit and take their time with the new output and focus more on their craft due to the pandemic. It never really sounds like a ‘Quarantine’ themed record, however, and certainly not so on ‘Guided By Angels’, a very propulsive old-school Punk anthem with a ‘No Frills’ personality. Driven by some thunderous guitar riffs and cathartic Drum sections, Taylor chants lyrics like “It’s my currency/I spend, protect my energy, currency” and “I never hold on/To the misery or grief” to a delicately stilted delivery, and there’s certainly a distinct Post-Punk edge to the instrumentation. Some usage of the Wammy Bar on the bass guitar creeps into the late stretch towards the end to add a wonky feel to the rhythms, and the rhythm guitar riffs have a cathartic, amped-up style that sets all of the band’s usual blueprints of a retro Punk Rock aesthetic and an explosive Pub Rock revivalist notion into place, but they seem to be structured a little differently than before because, although Taylor still seems possessed by a familiar sense of whining or longing in her voice, it is instead making a point of self-realization and refining her songwriting more neatly in comparison to the band’s previous releases in the form of LP’s and EP’s. For example, lyrical sequences like “Good energy and bad energy/I’ve got plenty of energy/It’s my currency” implies the idea that all sorts of contrasting emotions, and sometimes undescribed feelings, can all co-exist at once in her mental space. Overall, ‘Guided By Angels’ was a lot of fun as always by Amyl & The Sniffers, and the wise lyricism feels like a natural evolution of the chaotic lyricism the retro-leaning group have previously explored. Good, old-fashioned Punk.

Pictured: Amy Taylor (Lead Vocals/Chief Songwriter/Rhythm Guitar), Dec Martens (Lead Guitar), Fergus Romer (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Bryce Wilson (Drums) (2019) (Photo by Charles Engelken)

That’s it for now! Don’t forget to check out the first episode of my new podcast, ‘The Subculture Sessions’, on Spotify and thank you for your support with both projects. It is ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow and, this time, we’re browsing the details of a new album from a slightly lesser-known artist, which is the Indie Folk project of a Chicago-based songwriter who opened for Death Cab For Cutie on their summer tour in the US of 2019, and she performed at the Pitchfork Music Festival in 2019. She also collaborated with Yoni Wolf (from the Alternative Hip-Hop group WHY?) on ‘Siren 042’.

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Today’s Track: The Bug (feat. Flowdan) – “Pressure”

September 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Fire’ (Album/LP) (Released on August 27th, 2021) (via Ninja Tune)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke and it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day, so it’s time to put that into practice by publishing yet another daily track on the blog! Having been active in the UK’s underground Techno scene since the 1990’s, notably as one of Hyperdub’s most significant signings during the early 2000’s, Weymouth-based electronic music producer and journalist Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin has dabbled in the genres of Dubstep, Post-Hardcore, Industrial Hip-Hop, Dancehall, Power Electronics and more in experimental ways throughout the course of the last two decades, fronting different music projects like ICE, Curse Of The Golden Vampire and Techno Animal. There was also the collaborative moniker of King Midas Sound, which he has fulfilled with graphic designer Kiki Hitomi and poet Roger Robinson. There’s an air of 80’s Avant-Punk on his recently released solo album, ‘Fire’, which quickly became one of the year’s most anticipated hardcore album releases when it was released in the same month that it was announced, arriving in late August on the excellent Ninja Tune label. The album features collaborations with several vocalists including Logan, Flowdan, Nazamba, Manga Saint Hilare and more. This is Martin’s first solo album release since 2014, and he’s pitched it as a spiritual sequel to 2008’s ‘London Zoo’ and 2014’s ‘Angels & Devils’. The record has a scorching hot tone and it explores a range of socio-economic tensions and climate issues. Give the single, ‘Pressure’, a listen below.

“I’m always asking – how can I ramp this up more? How can I get more people out of control? For me, a live show should be unforgettable, should alter your DNA, or scar your life in a good way – that’s always been my goal, to set up shows that are unforgettable”, Martin told us in a press release, adding, “I like friction, fanning the flames with sound, and this album is the most reflective of the live show in terms of intensity and sheer f**k-off attitude of those shows”, he explained. ‘Fire’ is certainly one of Martin’s heaviest releases for a few years, but, as per usual from Martin, this isn’t a record that simply feels like a turn up the dial and shout for the sake of noise, in a Scuzz Sundays guilty pleasure way, but it instead uses Drone sounds and Dark Ambient influences to comment on a diversity of issues that seem to plague the modern world that we’re all a part of today. Working with frequent partner Flowdan on ‘Pressure’, Martin kicks the intensity of the new release into full gear with some anthemic two-step Drum beats and some relentless attacks from a string of reverb-drenched rumblings of Bass. Flowdan’s Hip-Hop vocals show serious flair, with the London-based MC adding a heavy Grime element to the chaotic energy of the tune, spitting thought-provoking lyrics like “Babylon time dun/Yuh sing for the stretcher” and “Wait for the revolution, but the revolution can’t stand” at a breakneck pace, as he conjures up some striking imagery of fleeing refugees and recent events in Alfghanistan that hit at a great speed and with an understandingly strong impact. Martin’s electronic soundscape deserves plenty of credit for the well-developed and uneasy atmosphere too. He kicks off the tune in riotous fashion with a jagged blast of sirens and foghorns, before he complements Flowdan’s hard-hitting vocals that rails against poverty and inequality at the fault of the government with a genuinely post-apocalyptic variety of sounds that shows his considerable experience and doesn’t hide behind the vocals from Flowdan as a literary device. Instead, the two together decide to hit their problems at their core with a passionate energy. On the whole, this is certainly not a mainstream release by any stretch of the imagination, but Kevin Martin and Flowdan do an absolutely brilliant job of unleashing a barrage of pent-up rage with good intelligence and academic creativity. There’s a ton of atmosphere as a result here and it feels undeniably cool. A release which you certainly should not skip.

Pictured: Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin in a studio PR shoot for ‘Fire’ (2021) (Photo via TheVinylFactory.com)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day, and thank you very much for your continued support with my daily project. I will be back tomorrow for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, as we take a break from my recent recommendations to revisit one of the most influential sounds of the past for the present. This week’s pick comes from a female-led band who were one of the greatest Bristol-based pioneers of Trip-Hop in the mid-90’s, and they were named after a nearby town of the same name. The trio sometimes bought a fourth member, Dave McDonald, on board as their own engineer.

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

August 12, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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Today’s Track: The Lovely Eggs (feat. Iggy Pop) – “I, Moron”

July 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Let’s spend Saturday with something on the certified side of Moronic. New post time!

Pictured: Holly Ross (Vocals/Guitar) & David Blackwell (Drums) (2018) (Photo by Alex West/URY Music)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, as always, and I’m coming at you with another daily track on the blog, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every single day! Ever since I heard about the release of their new single ‘I, Moron’, I have been chomping at the bit for the chance to see The Lovely Eggs play live. If you haven’t heard of them before, The Lovely Eggs are a very popular two-piece lo-fi Psychedelic Punk act made up of husband-and-wife duo David Blackwell and Holly Ross, the latter of which used to be the lead vocalist and guitarist of all-female Indie act Angelica. Ever since they emerged on the UK DIY scene with 2009’s ‘If You Were Fruit’ debut, the two have garnered a dedicated cult following for their endearing, anarchic blend of unique political ideas, rough-edged electronic instrumentation and their distinctive sprinkle of humor. Sadly, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the band never got to play any of their tracks from last year’s critically-acclaimed album ‘I Am Moron’, but, rest assured, the arrival of the brand new single accompanies a set of rescheduled tour dates, with the two true Eggheads playing venues in locations such as Cambridge, Leeds, York, Stroud, Reading and Birmingham next Spring. ‘I, Moron’ features guest vocals from the godfather of British Post-Punk himself, Iggy Pop. This collaboration came about when Iggy Pop continually played new tracks from their latest album on his BBC Radio 6 Music programme, and the real cult favourites sent him a ‘Thank You’ note. Check out the moronic results of it below.

“Being in The Lovely Eggs we’re kind of used to surreal experiences, but collaborating with Iggy Pop really takes the biscuit” exclaims one half of the duo, Holly Ross, in the team’s press notes, adding, “It’s actually unbelievable. For him to just say nothing but “moron” over and over again fitted in with the sentiment of the song perfectly. He just GOT it. We are all morons. In a world of moronic things. In a world of moronic ideas. You are moron. I am Moron. We are Moron”, to her pick-me-up speech. It’s not something that I’d expect to hear in a dated Hollywood action flick, but it’s definitely something that I’d expect to hear from The Lovely Eggs because nobody does it better. ‘I, Moron’ picks up at the junction that we got off from last year’s ‘I Am Moron’ LP, with Ross and Blackwell guiding the rhythm with filtered vocal sequences, driving buzz-saw guitar riffs, expansive Synth melodies and layers of overlapping backing vocals. An old-school Punk attitude is created through the vague lyrics, which say very little, but go a fairly decent way in adding a substantial substance to the frenzied fusion of instruments. As for the featured spot from Iggy Pop, you could argue that he earns his paycheck pretty easily here, but his hilariously monotone repeat of the one word adds nicely to the Zany heart of the songwriting and the tone. Meanwhile, there are bubbling sequences of keyboard riffs, robotic Synth breaks akin to Air’s sound and explosively paced lead guitar hooks which keep the sonic palette varied enough. The music video is also a great companion piece to the Psych-Punk madness, with a quirky Clay Animation style that compliments both the home-crafted spirit of the music and the slightly deranged calibration of off-kilter humor and clear charisma that Ross and Blackwell have developed their key strengths from over the years. A charming blend of golden age Punk and electronic-infused Psychedelia, ‘I, Moron’ sees them slip between stripped-back Indie and playful electronica with a safe pair of hands on the wheel. For the lack of a less eye-rolling term, it’s an ‘Eggselent’ showing.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘I, Moron’ (Single) (Released on July 9th, 2021) (via Egg Records)

If you want more of this, why not see what I thought of ‘Long Stem Carnations’ here?: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/07/13/todays-track-the-lovely-eggs-long-stem-carnations/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “I Am Moron” (Album/LP) (Released on July 10th, 2020) (via Egg Records)

That’s all I have to share with you today, but I hope that you are as ‘Eggsited’ as I am to see The Lovely Eggs playing in a town near you in 2022. Until then, I’ve got loads of new posts coming to your inbox, starting with another entry in the ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library tomorrow. It comes from a Welsh rock band formed in Newport during the 90’s who haven’t made an appearance on the site until now, and the band have won two Kerrang! Awards in 2001 and 2003. They were inducted to their ‘Hall Of Fame’ in 2019.

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Today’s Track: Cleopatrick – “Victoria Park”

July 8, 2021 — Leave a comment

Not in the words of a 90’s pop girl group, Cleopatrick. Coming at’chya. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “BUMMER” (LP) (Released on June 4, 2021) (via Nowhere Special Recordings)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – writing to you with another daily track on the blog, as you would expect, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Something loud and sharp for your Thursday, ‘Victoria Park’ was one of the singles released in the build-up to the release of the debut studio album, ‘BUMMER’, from the Canadian Hard Rock duo of Cleopatrick. This is the project of lead vocalist/guitarist Luke Gruntz and drummer Ian Fraser, who have been best friends ever since they were just 4 years old. At the age of 8, the guys developed a love for AC/DC together, and, later in their teenage years, continued to write and produce their own music, now for their indie label, Nowhere Special Recordings. Speaking about Victoria Park, the frontman Luke Gruntz explains: “It’s named after a real Victoria Park here in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada. A place where Ian and I have both spent countless summer days and nights throughout our lives. It’s a green space that was named after Queen Victoria in an effort to impress the Crown, during a time where this town was so young and prosperous that they truly believed they could be chosen as the capital of Canada”. On that note, let’s give it a spin below.

“This song, and the album it comes from, is our offering. It’s our effort to impress”, Gruntz adds, “Making ‘BUMMER’ we actively spoke about it as if it would be the only chance we ever had to make an album. With this in the back of our minds, every note we played and every line I penned carried an enormous weight. ‘BUMMER’ is meant to capture what could be our last famous words”, on the June 4th release. Certainly a mission statement for their recent record, ‘Victoria Park’ feels like a solid mesh of other bands. There’s a bit of shoe-gaze in here, some Arctic Monkeys in here, and even a little Sleaford Mods in here with the rhythmic Spoken Word pieces in the quieter sections. This is music designed to be played on full blast of the volume meter, as the band’s fuzzy guitar riffs crash against one another with a hefty blow of distortion. Lyrically, sequences like “I’m the only real motherf***er in this town” stick out, where Gruntz questions all of the ‘fake friends’ who only want to hang around him now that Cleopatrick is gaining some traction with Kerrang. “My misunderstood famous last words/Will be the only thing that still stands” is another defiant rally call for establishing the core values of the band in facing adversity that may come from the music press or snobbish listeners. The tolerance level for soft sounds is low, with thunderous drumming carrying the gritty melodies forward, while Gruntz’s lead vocals remain brittle and rugged. My quick elevator pitch for this would be “Canada’s answer to Royal Blood”, but it’s strange that I actually rather liked this in that sense, because, to be painfully honest, I personally don’t enjoy Royal Blood because I find them one-note and up themselves in comparison. Cleopatrick are bringing a grungier wall of sound to the table, and very subtle Grime influences with the quick-witted vocals and the darker variation of tones. It feels a little less stadium sound, and more graffiti-filled streets. When you listen to Cleopatrick on the surface, it’s easy to compare them to a lot of similar rooted acts. However, when you listen more actively, its original enough, and we’ve never had a rock band that are quite the same as them before. Overall, it’s perhaps of a slightly acquired taste, but I’m turning up that dial with no guilt. It could do with a tad more nuance, but I appreciate that it’s hectic and no-nonsense rock ‘n’ roll that hits very hard and quick. They’re on to something cool.

Pictured: Luke Gruntz (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar) & Ian Fraser (Drums) (2021) (Photo via Position Music)

That’s all I have lined up for you today! Please join me again tomorrow for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow as we finally lend the spotlight to the delayed debut album release of Drug Store Romeos. I also have a VERY special treat involving the band for you too, so you genuinely won’t want to miss out on tomorrow’s upload.

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Today’s Track: Deep Tan – “Camelot”

July 5, 2021 — Leave a comment

Just another evening at the tanning salon for the knights of Camelot. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Creeping Speedwells” (EP) (Released on June 4th, 2021) (via Practise Music)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – and I hope that you’re ready for 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! Today’s track serves as an introduction to the site for Deep Tan, an all-female Post-Punk/New Wave-like trio from Hackney. The ladies have been kicking around on our capital’s underground scene for a few years now, showcasing their skills to London’s drag, ballroom and LGBT communities, and the band’s vocalist – Wafah Dufour – was the drummer for Cate Le Bon’s backing band. Likened to Foals, Warpaint and The XX in terms of their sound, Deep Tan have shared the stage with similarly successful post-modern DIY Post-Rock artists like Squid, Yard Act, Sinead O’Brien and Jessica Winter, have earned features in music publications like NME, Loud and Quiet, and So Young, and airplay from Apple Music’s Beats1 and Amazing Radio USA. ‘Camelot’, released alongside a music video directed by Chino Moya, was the lead single for the emerging group’s debut EP, ‘Creeping Speedwells’, which was released on June 4th via Practice Music. Give it a whirl below.

“Camelot is an unashamed tribute to ‘the sesh'”, Deep Tan explained, noting, “A group of people have just been evicted with only 48hrs notice, leading them to have one last rager in order to forget about the stress of not finding a new home with such short notice, coming in at less than two minutes, the frenetic energy of the track sets the scene for total obliteration”, in their press release. ‘Camelot’ is designed to be a short-and-sweet jolt of virtual insanity, then, and the post-apocalyptic scenes are visualized through the relentless force of the heavy guitar work and the unrestrained nature of the skittering Drums. Hooks like “Forget the 48 hours, Don’t let the panic grip” and “Pour it out, and drink another one” are cycled through in a playful Jangle-Funk nature, and verses like “Stacked against the kitchen wall/Cans of gold from Piwowarska/I’m hearing how you got kicked out/Of the drovers for starting a fight” have a more cyclical delivery. The tone is brooding and ghostly throughout, as the raw vocals conjure up memories of heavy nights out at a dingy rock bar, with a fast tempo which mimics the buzzing rush of attempting, and failing, to drown out the memories that bring anxiety and fear through heavy drinking parties. It sounds like the dark style of tunes that you may find the band playing in such an environment, where the illicit live shows of a gloomy club match the skeletal song structure. It contrasts the fairly soft, more spoken delivery of the vocals, before we spring out into a chorus of “It’s the second last night in Camelot” backed up by a punchy Bassline. The drums get gradually louder too, and, by the end, we’re left with a strangely catchy Fugazi-inspired tune with a playful set of key changes and an obvious likening to Squid. There’s also a hint of 80’s Blondie or 90’s Garbage in here, with angular guitar riffs and a deliciously semi-deadpan delivery where instrumentals jolt past the lyrics in bursts. All in all, it is an engagingly wry showing from the intriguing up-and-comers.

Pictured: Wafah Dufour (Lead Vocalist/Rhythm Guitar), Celeste Guiness (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Lucy (Drums/Percussion) (in 2019) (Photography by Melia Beaudoin/SoYoungMagazine.com)

Thank you for your continued readership to the blog, and please feel free to join me again tomorrow for some brand new music from a returning face on the site. It comes from one of the most exciting Alternative artists of the last few years, marking the comeback of one of Warp Records most exciting signees. They also collaborated with Kelsey Lu on an atmospheric one-off single last December.

If you really liked what you just read, you can find us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/. We’re also now on Twitter, so you can check it out and give us a follow here: https://twitter.com/OneTrackAtATim1?fbclid=IwAR2demHDssZESnHDMi6gzTGNZJvdS42Ot930CA9Rttw7n4CJ5nvB8VJbWxE

Today’s Track: Loose Articles – “Kick Like A Girl”

June 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

Some football-related one-liners are just too off-sided to score a goal. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Kick Like A Girl” (Single) (Released on June 10, 2021) (via Dipped In Gold)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, just like always, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I’ve got music to share with you which is being pitched very much as an alternative anthem to a large football tournament that is taking over our television guides at the moment – Euro 2020. It comes from the Manchester melodic Post-Punk 4-piece Loose Articles, who I hadn’t heard of before. ‘Kick Like A Girl’ was released as a single on June 10th to coincide with the beginning of the football competition. The all-female group have drawn comparisons to Wire and The Slits, and they have made NME’s 100 list for 2021. Describing themselves as “feminime and threatening, working and class”, Loose Articles have previously recorded tracks tackling club culture and public transport, releasing the ‘Orchid Lounge’ EP in 2019 and the double single ‘Up The Disco/Buses’ earlier in the year. Their latest offering confronts social issues surrounding their beloved sport, as fans of non-league club FC United Of Manchester and players of the interest themselves, and misogyny on-and-off the pitch. Let’s give it a free kick below.

“It’s a misogynistic slur which is said in football to a male’s player who’s not performing as well”, Loose Articles’ vocalist Natalie Wardie spoke of the single’s title of ‘Kick Like A Girl’, adding, “It suggests that women can’t play football, but we’re reclaiming that slur and throwing it back in people’s faces. We want to take these stereotypes within football and turn them on their head”, to the press release for the track, which has been selected for decent airplay by Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 6 Music and released by the local indie label Dipped In Gold. A strident alternative to New Order’s ‘World In Motion’ or The Lightning Seeds ‘Three Lions’, Loose Articles’ anthemic ‘Kick Like A Girl’ uses discord and repetition to strong effect, mimicking the middle finger to gender-dominated sports attitudes. The lyrics mix edgy comedy with bellowing Post-Punk liberation after a punchy Spoken Word intro, with Wardie urging listeners to “Down ya Stella, and cop off with a fella, it’s football” and making jabs at Gary Linneker advertising Walkers Crisps with a raw, bellowing force. The chorus, in particular, is a ‘slide tackle’ of the narrow-mindedness of some men towards women in the culture created by football, with sharp lyrics like “You kick like a girl/Down pints like a girl” that exploit laddishness, and urge female supporters to engage in more gender-inclusive conversations around the sport. Musically, we’ve got sarcastic vocal remarks blending with aggressive guitar work to ‘kick off’ the intended aims of welcoming all people to the tribal joys of what football has to offer. This is simply delivered in a spiked, easily consumable package of forceful riffs and a frantic time signature, with references ranging from Beckham’s Mohican to Duncan Ferguson. The ending scorecard is a fun, enjoyable jolt of mood. More songs should have this mood.

Pictured: Loose Articles (Natalie Wardie, Tree Nah, Erin Caine & Louise Rivett) (2021) (via Twitter.com)

It’s time to blow the final whistle for today! Thank you for joining me – and I’ll be back tomorrow to share some more brand new music with you. This time, it’s coming to you from a brand new, interesting indie Soul duo from Hackney releasing mellow singles on the Moshi Moshi Music label, and they’re the perfect duo to celebrate LGBT Pride month with. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

New Album Release Friday: Garbage – “No Gods, No Masters”

June 11, 2021 — Leave a comment

‘Taking Out The Trash’ now has a completely different meaning. Time for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Art for “No Gods, No Masters” (LP) (Released on June 11, 2021) (via Infectious Music)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, just like usual, with the lingo for your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It’s Friday – and this week’s notable new releases include the debut album from Cleopatrick (Canada’s answer to Royal Blood), the 18th LP release in nine years from the endearingly proactive cult Aussie Prog-Rock ensemble King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, a ‘joint’ collaborative album from US rapper KennyHoopla and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, the latest long-player from the Post-Hardcore legends AFI and the new Minnesota musician Rachel Lime is taking things to an intergalactic level on ‘A.U.’, her debut LP offering. June 11th also marks the release date for ‘No Gods, No Masters’, the extensive seventh LP from 90’s Post-Punk pioneers Garbage. Formed out of the ashes of the bands Spooner and Fire Town, Shirley Manson’s band comfortably filled the void which a declining Grunge genre and a murky phase for Metal left for them, becoming highly significant for a female-fronted punk rock outfit of the time, and they have since sold over 17 million albums globally. The follow-up to 2016’s ‘Strange Little Birds’, Garbage’s new album has been pitched by Manson as “a critique of the rise of capitalist short-sightedness, racism, sexism and misogyny across the world”. Let’s sample the titular single below.

Paired with a music video directed by Scott Stuckey, Manson penned ‘No Gods, No Masters’ as her reaction to the Chilean protests against inequality and corruption when she took a trip to Santiago recently, and she was shocked at the sights of graffiti that had been painted over museums and monuments, until one of her guides checked her, asking her why she was more suprised by the damage being made to statues and the environment more than actual people, saying “That was like a slap in the face” in her press release. Built on Synth-infused guitar riffs and electric-soaked drum sequences, Manson chants refrains like “The future is mine, Just the same/No master or gods to obey” and “Nothing lasts and no one stays/The same forever, so accept the change” above the warmly melodic and Pop-oriented backdrop. Lyrics like “Save your prayers for yourself/’Cause they don’t work and they don’t help” touch on religious conflict, and further lyrics like “You want what’s mine/I want what’s yours” call out to those affected by gun violence. The finale, a final repeat of the chorus, comes after a slower bridge that takes us back to the 1990’s Alternative Rock scene, as Manson croons ” You want what’s mine/I want what’s yours” as the instrumentation crawls to a halt, with acidic Synth riffs and a heavy reverb effect. It feels very catchy and hook-led overall, despite touching on a wide variety of topical issues that carry weight, with a moody vocal performance that feels sub-cultural and an energetic guitar delivery which feels buoyant. It’s also very polished, with the rhythms and the candid vocals being mixed smoothly. Impressively, an underlying sense of warmth permeates throughout the track because it feels familiar and nostalgic to hear the group making a similar kind of music to their peak popularity, but the messages that lie underneath this ‘gentle hug from an old friend’ are moving and spoken carefully. I did think it was a little forgettable. However, I could certainly see it gaining airplay somewhere like BBC Radio 2 since it’s fairly light-hearted and recognizably Garbage overall. A visceral and cutting, but accessible and immediate, piece of nostalgic Punk.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Version 2.0” (Released on May 11th, 1998) (via Mushroom Records/Almo)

If you think that someone’s watching you, then you might not want to check out my earlier blog post about Garbage’s ‘I Think I’m Paranoid’ from last year. If you’re a fan of Manson’s misadventures, however, simply be my guest. Catch up on that here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/18/todays-track-garbage-i-think-im-paranoid-1998/

Pictured: Cover Art for “I Think I’m Paranoid” (Single) (Released on July 6, 1998) (via Almo Sounds)

That’s all for now – today’s ‘Garbage’ has been collected, after all. ‘Scuzz Sundays’ returns in two days time, as always, but, before we get to that point, I’ve got some more brand new music to share amongst you tomorrow. It marks the big return of a cult London band known for compiling archived clips from old public information films along with their guitars, synths, banjo’s and drums – and even including a vibraslap – to create their wildly inventive music. The band also took part in a special performance for BBC Proms to mark the celebration of Neil Armstrong’s moon landings last year. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Scuzz Sundays: Queens Of The Stone Age – “No One Knows”

June 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

For the huge QOTSA enthusiasts – this voice is like Homme to them. It’s Scuzz Sunday!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Songs For The Deaf” (Released on August 17th, 2002) (via Interscope Records)

Good Afternoon to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for yet another weekly addition to our ‘Scuzz Sunday’ catalog, where we revisit the Pop-Punk and the Emo phases ranging from the late-1990’s through to the mid-2000’s to see if they still rock our socks off, and hold up to value in the present day, not forgetting that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘No One Knows’ from Josh Homme’s stadium-famous rock outfit Queens Of The Stone Age is probably one of the most basic choices for the feature. However, we’ve yet to do it, and so, this week, it’s drawn it’s lucky straw. We all know it anyway – but the single (a rather head-scratching pick for one before we all had it saturated on the radio airwaves through the 2000’s) received a nomination for ‘Best Hard Rock Performance’ at the Grammy Awards in 2003, ultimately losing out to Foo Fighters ‘All My Life’. It was taken from their third studio LP release, ‘Songs For The Deaf’, which plays out by taking the listener on a drive through the deserts of California from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree. Becoming certified Platinum in Europe in 2008, the record garnered lots of critical acclaim and earned a Gold certification in sales in the US. Their only single to reach the top spot of the US Alternative charts, meanwhile, ‘No One Knows’ was almost five years old when it was finally released alongside notable other singles like ‘Go With The Flow’ and ‘First It Giveth’ from the album. I doubt that you are going to need to – but you can still remind yourself of ‘No One Knows’ below.

Of course, another very memorable part of ‘No One Knows’, alongside the chugging guitar thorough-line riff, was it’s associated music video that received heavy airplay on the Kerrang and Scuzz TV rock music video channels, which was directed by Dean Karr, and, most notably, Michael Gondry – who was a frequent collaborator with Bjork. Josh Homme said Gondry was his dream director because “he did all of those videos for Bjork, and we’re huge fans of Bjork, so we’re excited” in his own words. That makes you and me alike, Josh Homme. Speaking of Homme, he’s a threatening vocal presence on ‘No One Knows’, mixing ambiguous lyrics with a low-pitched croon. Lyrics like “We get these pills to swallow, How they stick in your throat” and “I journey through the desert/Of the mind with no hope” are delivered with a brisk pace above the continous six-chord guitar groove, giving the melodic sound a lively personality. Homme adds a series of new dimensions with good subtlety, as he continues adding more qualities of anger and jealousy to the harsh instrumentation. It leads into a more involved guitar solo and a tease of all-out mayhem, before the rhythms stall to a halt. Homme’s voice becomes theatrical and mirrors that of a lost soul wandering the cruel and dry environment of the desert, singing “Heaven smiles above me/What a gift here below” and “But no one knows, Gift that you give to me” at a slower tempo, as the crescendo fades away and the repetition sets in again. You didn’t really need my play-by-play as I’m sure you already know it well enough – and I think that’s a strong testament to who the band have now become. It may now be over-played, overall, but it was certainly a choice for a radio single that was very different to the others for the time, and that it’s an undeniably catchy single. Still not been deserted.

Pictured: Josh Homme (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Piano), Troy Van Leeuwen (Lap Steel Guitar/Keyboard/Synths), Michael Shuman (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Dean Fertila (Rhythm Guitar/Percussion) and Jon Theodore (Drums/Samples) (2016) (Photo via LOUDER/Getty Images)

That’s all for another day – but you can join me again tomorrow for some brand new music. One of 2021’s standout emerging talents has just released a new out-take from his debut album which arrived this March on his own OURNESS label, and so he gets his latest appearance on the blog tomorrow. This Australian-Ghanian Hip-Hop talent is delightfully difficult to categorize in any one box. He was born in Ghana before moving to Canberra at the age of 2 and he is the brother of Citizen Kay. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/