Post-Punk

Today’s Track: Sinead O’Brien – ‘Holy Country’

March 3, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a publicity shoot to promote a DIYMag.com feature (2020) (Photo Credit: Louise Mason)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for you to push your worries aside for a few minutes while we get invested in yet another daily track on the blog, given how it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I am delighted to write about Sinead O’Brien once again today, who topped my list of ‘The Best EP’s Of 2020’ with her debut extended play ‘Drowning In Blessings’. An incredibly unique talent from Limerick who I describe as the “Post-Punk Poet”, I caught wind of O’Brien when ‘Taking On Time’ was offered for free on KEXP’s ‘Song Of The Day’ podcast in early 2020, a valuable resource when it comes to seeking out and sampling new music. Since then, her star power has risen. She has supported cult artists John Cooper Clarke and The Brian Jonestown Massacre on sold-out theatre shows across the UK and Ireland, she has performed at Eurosonic Festival and SXSW, and she has collaborated with Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey (Foals, Black Midi, Squid, Fontaines DC) on singles like ‘Girlkind’ and ‘Kid Stuff’ that she dropped throughout 2021. I’m excited to report that O’Brien has announced that her debut solo full-length album – ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’ – will release on June 10th via Chess Club Records. Once again co-produced by Carey, the LP’s release has been accompanied by a long string of tour dates across the UK and Ireland for September and October 2022. Irish fans can visit her in Cork, Dublin, Belfast and more – while UK natives can catch her playing at venues in Nottingham, Brighton, Glasgow, Ramsgate, Bristol and more. Once again produced by Carey, her highly-anticipated LP was recorded in South London, and she teases, “The story of the album is built up in layers: One song giving context to the next. I thought about becoming undressed: testing my ideas, my voice. Working myself out across themes of identity, curiosity, creative process. Experimenting with the form and shape of language, using tone and delivery to get to the immediate centre of what I am saying”, Sinead explains in a press release. Let’s give her latest promotional single – ‘Holy Country’ – a listen below.

“The album title ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’, from the song, ‘Multitudes’, came into my head and made its demands, an idea that pressed on me throughout the record”, Sinead continues to explain about her solo album, concluding, “The clock symbol is enlarged, it looms like a moon over my activity watching, counting me down to zero. Dripping with self-sabotage and the feeling of being chased: it pulls and pushes against the verses which talk of ‘Multitudes’; the things that faithfully come back – the images, the words, creativity. It is creativity itself”, in her expressive press notes. Opening with a sultry acoustic-driven guitar riff akin to the ‘Country’ genre in reference to the track’s title, ‘Holy Country’ finds O’Brien being the architect of vocabulary that makes her really stand out in terms of lyrics, with O’Brien giving us a clear insight into her thought process as sequences like “I stare at the walls when I feel hollow/I stare straight down the hall and I follow the thoughts” swell above a Post-Punk crescendo of sounds that crash, thump and stutter beneath the more abstract, lyrical surface. Her vocal presence is commanding and demanding, as she exclaims the likes of “Take me to the secrets of the Saints” and she points out “The giants of time turning tunes” as she continues to flip the switch, disregarding the warm and folk-ish opening guitar riff at the start in favour of warped synths and rapid percussion that creates a more glitched-out sound. It is very unique and unimitable music from O’Brien once again, although the way that the sharp guitar riffs merge with O’Brien’s more free-form lyricism where she points out mental processes as we traverse her mind isn’t far from the well of Dry Cleaning’s Spoken-sung waxings, but the tone is clearly more serious while retaining an abstract nature. In conclusion, ‘Holy Country’ is another vivid stand-out from Sinead, who continues to convince me that she is one of the most creative human beings on the UK’s live music circuit. A very articulate and talented individual, her album has me hyped to a high amount that is often quite unusual for somebody as obsessive as me who listens to almost anything anyways. It’s shaping up to be a blockbuster and a totally refreshing record.

Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a PR shot for her ‘Drowning In Blessings’ EP (2020) (Photo via Chess Club Records)

As I have mentioned, Sinead O’Brien has been one of our ‘regulars’ on the blog since I began the project actively in the summer of 2019. If you enjoyed ‘Holy Country’, you can check out some more of her sounds below:

‘Taking On Time’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/20/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-taking-on-time/

‘Strangers In Danger’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/03/todays-track-sinead-o-brien-strangers-in-danger/

‘Kid Stuff’ – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/15/todays-track-sinead-obrien-kid-stuff/

Pictured: Sinead O’Brien in a press shoot to promote ‘A Thing You Call Joy’ (2019) (Photo Credit: Zac Mahrouche)

That brings us to the end of another day of music coverage on One Track At A Time! Thank you for giving a few minutes of your day to me today, as your support is always highly appreciated, and I will be back tomorrow for another iteration of ‘New Album Release Fridays’. We’ll be previewing the third studio album from a West London-based indie rock singer-songwriter who recently stated “It’s a shame when you’re at a festival, and all you see is white guys” in a very candid interview for The Independent.

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Today’s Track: Wet Leg – ‘Too Late Now’

February 12, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Rhian Teasdale (Lead Vocals/Guitar) & Heather Chambers (Lead Guitar/Vocals) (Photo by Frances Beach)

Good Morning to you! This is your resident 24-year-old independent music journalist Jacob Braybrooke reporting for duty 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! If I quoted ‘Chaise Lounge’ to you in the street, the chances are that it would mean something to you if you already love your music and your radio. It is the name of the track that bought the Isle Of Wight indie rock duo of Wet Leg – Comprised of co-vocalists and co-guitarists Rhian Teasdale and Heather Chambers – to fame, having become a viral hit that earned millions of music video views and staggering streaming figures when it found an audience on the internet last year. The duo became as such when they studied at Isle Of Wight college together and became close friends, with the pair later signing up to Domino Recordings – the same eclectic label that has released material from high profile names like Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip, Ela Minus, Georgia, Blood Orange and more. Nowadays, Wet Leg are being played all over the BBC with playlist rotation on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music, and they have also performed on ‘Later With Jools Hollland’ on BBC Two, in addition to being shortlisted for BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2022’ award. They also began touring the US in late 2021 and the two currently have their debut studio album – a self-titled LP – slated for a full release on April 8th. Let’s check out their single ‘Too Late Now’ below.

“It’s about sleepwalking into adulthood”, Teasdale writes about the guitar-oriented track, ‘Too Late Now’, in her press release, explaining, “I never imagined that my adult life would look the way it does and I guess this song reflects on some of the pressures and pulls of life. Sometimes I get really inside my head and everything can feel very overwhelming. I think this song is about accepting that life can feel a bit s**t from time to time. Maybe don’t indulge that thought too much though”, in her own words. I can totally relate to some of the themes discussed in ‘Too Late Now’, with on-point lyricism about social media like “I don’t need no dating app to tell me if I look like crap/To tell me if I’m thin or fat, to tell me should I shave my rat” that are softly sardonic, but they retain honesty and order despite their gentle humor, with the pre-chorus spoken word refrains making some important points about heightening your own expectations when you leave adolescence and life simply goes on instead of truly flourishing. Other refrains like “I don’t need no radio/No MTV, no BBC/I just need a bubble bath/To set me on a higher path” have a broader commentary on influencer or celebrity status, and how simple acts of kindness to yourself can have an impact on your enjoyment of life through the smaller and more profound actions that you make. The chorus is more hook-based, with the rambling sequence of “I’m gonna drive my car into the sea/I’m gonna drive downtown while looking pretty ordinary” going for a somber but uptempo vibe that neatly contrasts the melancholic vocals with some more optimistic melodies. Instrumentally, comparisons to The Maccabees or Porridge Radio are likely to surface as the on-nature lyricism is paired up to the tune of rich, yet raw guitar melodies and muted bass that retains a steady pace throughout the track as the drums gradually kick into a more aggressive gear and there’s a light reverb on the guitar effects that hint towards a more Emo-driven sound without ever entirely traversing into ‘Scuzz Sundays’ gear with the genres that we recall on the blog with each Sunday post, and I liked the new track overall for it’s mix of hazy disorientation and quotable lyricism with commentary that Wet Leg’s peers are clearly connecting with. It remains to be seen whether Wet Leg are truly the ‘next big thing’ or another in a tough line of near-success stories like The Ting Ting’s or The Noisettes during the 00’s. However, there’s certainly potential for their careers to keep taking off because there’s talent in here. Personally, I would say that ‘Too Late Now’ is their strongest yet.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Wet Leg’ (Self-Titled LP) (Available from 8th April, 2022) (via Domino Recordings)

That’s everything that I had lined up for you today. Your support for the site is hugely appreciated, as usual, and ‘Scuzz Sundays’ will be making its natural way to the blog tomorrow as we recall the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past for another week. This time, we’re listening back to a mid-00’s hit from an English indie rock group who are best known for their UK top ten singles ‘Golden Touch’ and ‘America’, (a #1 hit), from 2006.

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Today’s Track: Placebo – ‘Surrounded By Spies’

January 22, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Never Let Me Go’ (LP) (Available from March 25th, 2022) (via Rise Records/Elevator Lady)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for me to bring you some company for this barren January wasteland with yet another daily track on the blog, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A high-profile act formed in 90’s London who became widely praised for their androgynous appearances in their music and the media with lyrics that openly discussed taboo topics of the time like drug abuse, mental health and sexuality, it feels fitting that there is once again a gap in the market for Placebo, a London-based alternative rock/grunge band who have sold over 11 million records worldwide, to shed their skin. In their earlier years, Placebo collaborated with prolific names like David Bowie and Michael Stipe and, to date, each of the seven studio albums they have released have all reached the Top 20 of the UK Album Charts. Anybody who grew up in the late-90’s may recall the divisive single ‘Nancy Boy’ that was famous for it’s genre-blurring content. It has been 9 years since 2013’s ‘Loud Like Love’ was released, but the now-duo of vocalist-guitarist Brian Molko and bassist-guitarist Stefan Olsdal are about to follow that LP up with another – ‘Never Let Me Go’ – which arrives on March 25th via Rise Records and Elevator Lady. Following the first comeback single – ‘Beautiful James’ – the more recent track of ‘Surrounded By Spies’ was created using William S. Burroughs’ cut-up technique. Molko says that he used shredded pieces of written words to rearrange into a new text to piece together the track that lyrically envisions a society where every camera is fixated on the fictional narrator, forming a wise commentary on CCTV surveillance. Let’s give it a spin below.

“I began writing the lyrics when I discovered my neighbours were spying on me on behalf of parties with a nefarious agenda”, Molko explains about the source of the inspiration for his production techniques and the music video in a press release, later writing, “It’s a true story told through a lens of paranoia, complete disgust for modern society’s values and the deification of surveillance capitalism. The narrator is at the end of their tether, hopeless and afraid, completely at odds with our newfound progress and the god of money”, to his text description. The most die-hard of Placebo’s fans have noted how the music video has a few similarities with that of 2013’s ‘The Bitter End’, and the audio experience of ‘Surrounded By Spies’ similarly does not pull any punches as Molko charismatically repeats hooks like “The search for meaning is killing me” and “Dead fly on the national anthem” with a dark-natured heart over the top of some harsh instrumentation. While ‘Beautiful James’ – the preceding single – buzzed with some light-hearted Synths, ‘Surrounded By Spies’ feels starker and more brutal in contrast. The building guitar riffs are a subtle slow-burn, as Molko buckles under the weight of a lack of public privacy with blunt lyrics like “I saw you jump from a burning building” and “I’ve seen you move like Elvis set on fire” that conjure up some gothic rock-based imagery. The vocal delivery has a gentle air of Spoken word about it, as Molko recites a collage of dark-pop lyrics that touch upon paranoia and consent as key themes, with the half-way refrain of “I gave my heart, now I want it back” forming a key moment of soul for the song. It starts off with a backdrop of ethereal Organ chimes aided by fragmented percussion as the tension builds within the soundscape and the titular hook of “I am surrounded by spies” grows the intensity of the sound before an eventual payoff. The deft lyrical delivery portrays a claustrophobic mood in effective ways where the quiet-and-loud pace of the fluctuating sounds connects with the wry refrains throughout the track as the walls fittingly close in on the central character. It doesn’t really fit the feel-good direction of most late-90’s Pop Punk acts and so it subverts my expectations in a moving way, and the darkened Synth riffs relate to the sharp qualities of the songwriting nicely. All-around, it is a neat and cohesive package that continues to make Placebo feel like a band with a definite edgy sensibility to them. The vocals sound a little disorienting in the mix, but to be honest, I enjoyed how ‘Surrounded By Spies’ feels candid and casual instead of over-produced in any way. A poetic piece that feels dark while moving towards realism, this is a still strong offering by Placebo.

Pictured: Brian Molko (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Keyboard/Percussion), Stefan Olsdal (Bass Guitar/Piano/Backing Vocals) and Steve Forrest (Drums/Percussion/Backing Vocals) (2003) (Photo Credit: Jamie Crossnan/NME.com)

As Placebo were a fairly prominent part of the 00’s Pop-Punk scene, they have also been subjected to my distinctive feature of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ before. You can revisit the sound of ‘Pure Morning’ from 1998 here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/15/scuzz-sundays-placebo-pure-morning/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Without You I’m Nothing’ (LP) (Released on 12th October, 1998) (via The Hut/Virgin)

That’s enough privacy invasion for one morning! Thank you for joining me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for another weekly installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ which, this week, features a unique Pop-Punk cover of Nena’s German 90’s hit ’99 Red Balloons’ by a California-based ska punk band who got their own version used in pop culture media productions like ‘Not Another Teen Movie’, ‘Our Lips Are Sealed’ and ‘Eurotrip’.

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New Album Release Fridays: Yard Act – ‘Payday’

January 21, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Overload’ (LP) (Released on January 21st, 2021) (via Zen FC/Island Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to take an in-depth look at a recent single taken from one of the weekend’s most highly anticipated album releases for yet another daily track on the blog, given that it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Having had the chance to see and review Yard Act live for the blog and praise their breakout single ‘Fixer Upper’ when it was originally released, the native Leeds Post-Rock band seem like an obvious choice for the album of the week with their debut full-length release ‘The Overload’ – which releases today via their own label Zen FC in association with Island Records, however, given how much the band have grown their fanbase and attention from critics and audiences alike over the past year with a furious flurry of good-time singles, it definitely feels like the correct choice as the band are a superb live act and have definitely improved their musicianship since forming and having their live tours halted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Yard Act should appeal nicely to fans of John Cooper Clarke and Gang Of Four, and the likes of BBC Radio 1 host Annie Mac and BBC Radio 6 presenter Steve Lamacq have given them loads of healthy support, with Yard Act also being shortlisted for BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2020’ award. Produced with Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, Aldous Hading) in Bristol, ‘The Overload’ features 12 tracks with a clear layout of four parts that follow an unnamed character – portrayed by Yard Act’s beguiling frontman James Smith, who is an amalgamation of many vibrant characters Smith has met, imagined or himself felt like – who ricochets between desk jobs and resorts from illicit activity to ‘bent copper’ investigations during a financial crisis, before culminating in a half-cut personal epiphany that even the most law-abiding readers can relate to. So, what we’re really getting is a sardonic exploration of how we value resources like money as Smith finds the interest in really mundane things that we all have to go through. Check out the single ‘Payday’ below.

The music video for ‘Payday’ marks their third collaboration with director James Slater, and Smith writes about the single, “Payday was one of the few tracks on the record we had to rebuild completely in the studio because the first demo was recorded on my computer and the hard drive corrupted. We spent about two hours trying to figure out that stupid Keyboard part I’d put on it and couldn’t remember how to play. It was boring but worth it”, as he explained in a press release, adding, “It’s about gentrification, class fetish and how the human brain is so powerful that with enough time and processing power combined it will be able to justify, defend and/or continue to commit the actions of any human being it controls”, as he puts it. Asking “What constitutes real change? Are we even vaguely aware of when we’ll terminate the muse” in the opening hook of the second verse, Smith establishes ‘Payday’ as a scornful anti-capitalist anthem that playfully mocks the brainwashing habits of monetary success with darkly witty lyrics like “The local council will be getting an earful, believe me” and “There are starving children in Africa, so go send your toy guns to Bosnia” that feel incredibly dark-humored, but really imaginative as a result throughout, before encouraging us to “Take the money, and treat your mother right” with a cynical post-chorus hook that begs to be sung along by passionate crowds in homely live venues. Mixing a feisty DIY-punk aesthetic of the 80’s by recalling bands like The Smiths and The Fall with songwriting that feels as cheeky as it comes off eclectic, some of the music is easy to laugh-out-loud along to, but there’s an air of anger that bubbles underneath the surface vocally. In terms of the instrumentation, the glitched Flute section and the Post Punk-style minimalist guitar riffs that lay beneath the Spoken Word style of the lyrics complement Smith’s portrait of urban renewal nicely. While the sound may border a little on the ‘moody’ tropes that modern Post-Rock acts like IDLES and Bambara have made popular, I definitely feel that Yard Act have a sense of charisma to them which stands out among their peer acts and makes them feel more appealing to a broader pool of listeners because they manage to be very amusing while making honest points about the attitudes of today’s elite class of the UK’s society. While the likes of Adele or Ed Sheeran are technically competent musicians, they feel a little safe and too pop-oriented for my personal taste and it’s been a long time since the days where parents would bang on teenagers’ bedroom doors and shout “What the hell are you listening to?” when blasted out at an excessive volume, and I feel that Yard Act can be that band. They are just as appealing to more mature adults, whoever, who recall 80’s spiky punk acts who likely influenced Yard Act’s material. The colourful characters who dance along to Smith’s mocking choreography in the music video are daft, and his own Harry Enfield-style of wafting bills around in your face are difficult not to find humorous, and so the visual aspects that go alongside their musical creative ideas are a great touch too. Fiercely smart and bolstered by catchy rhythms, ‘Payday’ is one of their best as it is a suitable reflection of what Yard Act tap into nicely as a project. I bloody love this track.

Pictured: James Smith (Lead Vocals/Songwriter), Ryan Needham (Bass Guitar), Sammy Robinson (Rhythm Guitar) and George Townend (Drums/Percussion) in a promotional photoshoot (2020) (Photo Credit: James Brown)

If you’re looking for a good gig to attend, then you can read more about my time seeing Yard Act performing a live set at The Portland Arms in Cambridge here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/09/29/the-green-gig-goers-guide-to-live-music-events-yard-act-the-portland-arms-cambridge-september-27-2021/. For comparison purposes, you can also remind yourself of their breakout single ‘Fixer Upper’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/15/todays-track-yard-act-fixer-upper/

Pictured: Yard Act in a promotional image to promote their 2020 single releases (2020) (Photo via James Brown)

That’s all for now! Thank you for accompanying me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we divert our focus from spotlighting one of the UK’s most exciting new Punk-related acts to underline the very long-awaited return from a 90’s Alternative Rock band who were widely known for their androgynous imagery. They have released seven albums so far, each one of which has reached the Top 20 of the charts in the UK.

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Today’s Track: LYR (feat. Rozi Plain) – ‘Cascade Theory’

January 10, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Simon Armitage, Richard Walters and Patrick Pearson (2021) (Photo Credit: Callum Lovell Harrison)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m crossing my fingers for a peaceful start to a new week for you as we invest in 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! ‘Cascade Theory’ is a brilliant new track from LYR, an experimental Post-Rock trio that is currently comprised of British poet laureate Simon Armitage, musician Richard Walters and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Pearson, with additional vocals by Winchester-based Alternative Pop singer-songwriter Rozi Plain. The trio’s name is an acronym for Land Yacht Regatta, and the three creatives say they found each other through the galvanizing philosophy of blending words. Last year, they released their debut album – ‘Call In The Crash Team’ – and they collaborated with Hollywood actress Florence Pugh and Melt Yourself Down’s Pete Wareham on their single ‘Lockdown’. A follow-up EP – ‘Cascade Theory’ – was released in late November via Mercury KX, a five-track release that elevates their typically Spoken Word blended with Ambient Rock style of music to more scientific proportions. LYR have said that “Cascade Theory takes a scientific principle and applies it to a social or psychological setting. Things crash into each other – especially thoughts and ideas – and the resulting fragmentation is both bewildering and exciting”, in their product description for the short-form release. The attached music video follows actor Richard Fox and it was directed by Jordan Martin, as well as produced by Double Vision, and it matches the single to some Noir-like visuals that finds the real world and an imaginary setting colliding at full speed, leaving behind a mess of stardust and glitter. Let’s check it out.

“The scientific phenomenon that is central to the EP is found in behavioral economics and explains decision making in sequential fashion, enlightening us on why observation follows imitation”, Mercury KX adds about the EP’s titular track in a press statement, explaining, “Simon Armitage’s ambient Spoken Word passages, at the forefront of the track, expand upon their personal interpretation of the network-based theory”, in the EP’s listing pages. This collision of objects, like the paint of the music video colliding with “space junk” as Armitage recites in the single, mirrors the vibrant explosion of poetry and Post-Punk of LYR’s sound on the track, as Armitage recalls that “one thing follows the other” in a key refrain of the lyrics. We start off with a minimal Piano beat that builds up to a soaring drum beat before a guitar riff is introduced to the melody, which becomes lightly distorted and feels suitable for the grim black-and-white colour palette of the music video. Meanwhile, Armitage uses a fairly laidback tone for his vocals that feels insistent as brief anecdotes like “Drop the tight bow in next door’s pond and call it a song/Broke a borrow side on a hiding rock, Mowing wet hay” and “It built a business park in a green field, While I fitted about and fine-tuned, the useless Haiku of a Rubik’s cube” that not only explain the cascade theory that is relevant to the track’s title, but apply the theory to everyday practices. A key refrain later on, where Simon Armitage recounts, “In the face of Jesus, I saw the orangutan” connect the theory to ongoing debates around religion and science. Not only are the lyrics intriguing, but the instrumentation feels cinematic and engrossing, as the chirping guitars and the reminiscent Drums create a stirring soundscape of unyielding chords. There are echoes of Sigur Ros in the Post-Rock textures, while the bass lines are more comparable to Future Islands in how the lyricism melds with the ascending melodies. There’s a hint of Jarvis Cocker to the male vocals, which come across with a near-equal mixture of light humour and academic intellect. A solid interplay between the male vocals and the female vocals of Rozi Plain is present too, who uses warmer lyrics like “Ding, Ding, Ding/You’re bowling in a pan” and “We need everyone sitting, now everyone stand” to contrast the high-tempo aggression of the Prog-Rock elements with a softer tone of voice that controls the chaos, for lack of a better term. Overall, thanks to the excellent pacing and the good interplay between Armitage and Plain – that reminds me a little bit of how the tone was calming on Peter, Bjorn & John’s mid-00’s cult hit ‘Young Folks’ in a few ways – ‘Cascade Theory’ is a treat that combines anthemic Post-Rock with clever intellect to engaging results.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Cascade Theory’ (EP) (Released on November 12, 2021) (via Mercury KX)

That brings us to the end of today’s presentation on One Track At A Time, and I thank you for sticking to the blog with me. Please feel free to join me again tomorrow as I shine a spotlight on some more music that came out in the latter end of 2021 that deserves a listen. My next pick comes from a Liverpool-based solo artist who found fame on TikTok and then began touring with bands like The Orielles and Trudy & The Romance – before he released his debut album through Melodic Records last October.

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Today’s Track: Bloc Party – ‘Traps’

January 8, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Alpha Games’ (LP) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via BMG/Infectious Records)

Good Morning to you! As you expected – this is Jacob Braybrooke, and thank you for spending a few minutes of your weekend by visiting the site for yet another daily track on the blog, given that it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Those of you who grew up in the 2000’s will probably remember when Bloc Party got their big break by sending BBC Radio presenter Steve Lamacq and Alex Kapranos (of Franz Ferdinand fame) a demo tape of ‘She’s Hearing Voices’ in 2003, and, since then, the band have scored multiple UK Top 10 album releases, UK Top 40 single chart entries and sold their way to a global tally of over three million albums worldwide as of 2012. Known for blending vivid elements of danceable House music and urban Electronica into their crossover-friendly brand of Punk-oriented Indie Rock music – Bloc Party are returning with their sixth studio album, ‘Alpha Games’, which is set for a release date of April 29th, 2022 via BMG/Infectious Music. The follow-up to 2016’s ‘Hymns’, the long-awaited new album by the Kele Okereke-led project is the first to fully feature new band members of Louise Bartle and Justin Harris who replaced the long-standing members of Gordon Moakes & Matt Tong by joining the group’s ranks in 2014. The comeback single – ‘Traps’ – is currently on the BBC Radio 6 Music daytime playlist and, as you may spot when you stream it, was noticeably produced by Adam Greenspan and Nick Launay who have produced music for Nick Cave, IDLES and The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s before, as the band dig into the archives of Bloc Party’s sound to recapture their roots with a modern twist on ‘Traps’. It follows solo releases by Okereke. See how it sounds below.

“From the moment we wrote ‘Traps’, we knew it had to be the first thing people heard from this album”, says the ringmaster Kele Okereke on the new single from this futuristic iteration of Bloc Party, explaining, “Playing it in soundchecks on our last tour before it was finished and hearing how it sounded in those big rooms and outdoors”, in a press statement as the band prepares to support the album on tour in the UK and Europe later during the new year. Mixing predatory lyrics with spinning instrumentals that connote a feel of horror, and the frenetic music video of ‘Traps’ showing Okereke performing in an adrenaline-fueled dance floor captures this dark tone. Reciting threateningly flirtatious lyrics like “You’re not making it easy for me, Strutting round here in those pum pum shorts” and “You’re so maverick, you’re a bit of me/You can get it anytime you want” over the top of some chugging bass guitar riffs and an angered pace on the drums that shows a return to Bloc Party’s popular dance-rock sound in the verses, but they are met with a sinister undertone that feels as though Bloc Party are adding their take on the Post-2020 punk sound that bands like Fontaines DC have found popularity through establishing where the lyrics are sardonic and the dance influences are quite aggressive. The chorus feels more familiar for casual Bloc Party fans, with some earworm hooks like “But you’re headed to a trap/Meet me in the boom boom room” that definitely feel playful. The track certainly has an aura that feels edgy and unusual to it as an overall modern pop/rock piece, however, and the lyrics seem to comment on masculine manipulation and the advances that some women probably have to deal with in a night club environment, and so it feels progressive for the band by mixing the new and the old, in terms of Okereke’s vocals and Bloc Party’s sound, in some exciting ways. I am not completely convinced the execution is totally on-key however, as lyrics like “There you go-go/Looking like a snack/Cute like Bambi” and “Lick, lick, lickety split” feel a little questionable for my liking. That removed, I felt like this was a fun and daring return from the band who bring some exciting guitar riffs and some intriguing new Post-Punk influences to their repertoire, although some of the songwriting stuck the landing a little roughly for me. Still, it flew by entertainingly enough and I’m quite interested to see what the new members of the group bring to the full album release.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Silent Alarm’ (LP) (Released on February 2, 2005) (via Wichita Recordings)

Funnily enough, not at all long ago, we revisited the previous incarnation of Bloc Party when we covered ‘Helicopter’ for Scuzz Sundays. Check it out here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/11/07/scuzz-sundays-bloc-party-helicopter/.

Pictured: Kele Okereke (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Electric Piano/Samples), Russell Lisack (Lead Guitar/Samples/Programming), Gordon Moakes (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals/Keyboard/Synths/Glockenspiel) and Matt Tong (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2014) (Image via whenthegramarphonerings.com)

That’s all for today, but ‘Scuzz Sundays’ is back on the docket for tomorrow as we remember one of the, sadly, few female-led groups of the trashy era of commercial Pop-Punk music forms. This Welsh rock band brought Cerys Matthews to mainstream fame in the late-1990’s and they were key pioneers of the 1990’s Cool Cymru music movement. They also performed at the opening ceremony of the 1999 Rugby World Cup on October 1, 1999 in the Millennial Stadium situated in Cardiff. I’ll find you there.

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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.

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Boxing Day 2021 Special: Courtney Barnett – ‘Boxing Day Blues (Revisited)’

December 26, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Courtney Barnett at Rock The Garden Festival (2019) (Photo via Martin Philbey/Redferns)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and, if you weren’t famished by food already yesterday, I’ve got a small pick-me-up for you in the way of this Boxing Day-themed post, seeing that it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Having recently released her third solo studio album – ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ – to the world, the Australian indie rock singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett hasn’t been a stranger to this humble site at all with her boisterous mix of lo-fi, but also sometimes more Grunge-influenced, Punk melodies and her witty, deadpan lyricism. The LP which arguably bought her an established name in the industry was 2015’s ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit’, which won four ARIA Music Awards and gave her further award nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards and 2016’s BRIT Awards respectively, following its release. Not too shabby at all for a debut album release, then. The album’s closer was the melancholic and rambling offering ‘Boxing Day Blues’ and, a few months later that year, she decided to re-imagine her own tune with ‘Boxing Day Blues (Revisitied)’. The track was released as the A-side to a cover version of Boys Next Door’s ‘Shivers’ that was originally issued in 1979. With little left to say, let’s get in the mood with it below.

Garnering such acclaim for your debut release would certainly allow you to work with higher caliber music artists, and the same was true for Courtney Barnett when she recorded ‘Boxing Day Blues (Revisited)’ with Jack White in his Nashville-based studio. The single was also included on a deluxe version of ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit’ that was released that November, which includes some bonus tracks and demo recordings that were cut from the original track listing of the album. It also featured physical gifts – including a poster of the album’s artwork and four Polaroid photographs taken by Barnett herself. Addressing a romantic interest with questions like “How was your day? Mine was okay” and “What did you do? Spent my whole night dreaming of you”, Barnett lyrically tackles the theme of wishing that you were somewhere else, and doing something else with someone else, than what you did for Christmas day in reality. Suitably, it feels more percussive than the original track with a slightly laidback feel. Her tone is lovesick and stripped back, with lyrics like “Like a Christmas Tree on Boxing Day, thrown away” and “Just like two icebergs in climate change, drifting away” that feel strangely topical. Lyrics like “I’m feeling fine, Except the times that I’m not” feel very characteristic of Courtney too, bolstered by a gently jaunting lead guitar riff and a similarly placid Drum riff. The wistful and low-key melodies of the track settle into a mostly chilled out meditation on the themes of fantasy and reality, as well as the lines between sadness and resentment, with her signature deadpan observations coming across as just a little more defined when compared to the original track from her debut album. Overall, it feels like a solid after-burner of a track that sticks out when all of the many jobs pertaining to Christmas have been done and, as usual for Barnett, she’s the type of musician who you can get to know personally through the fairly small, but profound, aspects of her songwriting.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ (LP) (with Kurt Vile) (Released in 2017) (via Matador Records)

If you’re feeling bored this Boxing Day, you can also check out some of my previous Courtney Barnett-related posts on the blog. There’s ‘Over Everything’ from her collaborative album ‘Lotta Sea Lice’ with The War On Drugs’ Kurt Vile here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/09/26/todays-track-courtney-barnett-kurt-vile-over-everything/. There’s a more recent solo single, ‘Rae Street’, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/08/21/todays-track-courtney-barnett-rae-street/. Finally, you can check out the single ‘Befoe You Gotta Go’ from her latest album here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/11/12/new-album-release-fridays-courtney-barnett-before-you-gotta-go/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ (LP) (Released on November 12, 2021) (via Mom + Pop Records)

That’s all for now and, basically, that’s Christmas for another year. We’ve made it through until next year. Speaking of the new year, my coverage for the New Year’s season will begin tomorrow as we look at some of the off-the-radar music from 2021 that you may have missed from earlier in the year throughout the week and, sometime in January, my year-end lists will be published. Once I get the chance to actually sit down and write them! Anyways, I’ll whet your appetite tomorrow with a starter from the new dance project of DFA’s Amy Douglas and Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard.

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Countdown To Christmas 2021: Billy No Mates – ‘Christmas Is For Lovers, Ghosts & Children’

December 21, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Billy Nomates in a PR shot for her live set at the Farmfestival in Somerset (2020) (via PR/press shoot)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for us to pause for reflection over how others handle financial or familial stress over the festive season with yet another entry of our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ series of daily posts, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Every year, there’s always a few Christmas songs that have been released for charity that remind us to take care of others during the holiday season, often with a heartfelt message or some novelty value to increase its appeal to casual audiences in the mainstream. One of this year’s suspects turns out to be an Alternative Post-Punk artist who I’m already fond of, which is the New Wave-inspired music of Leicestershire-born singer-songwriter Tor Maries, who releases her indie rock music under the aptly titled project of Billy Nomates. I really enjoy the visceral attitude and the fiery, retro personality of her lyrics that set her apart in a somewhat saturated market, and given her experience of being a part of several side projects in the past and striking out as a solo artist with a no-nonsense spirit, could well become more of an icon for her genre in the next ten of fifteen years. If you’re a fan of Sleaford Mods, you would also know Maries from touring with them and collaborating on their track ‘Mork ‘N’ Mindy’ from their latest album ‘Spare Ribs’ released last January, and she performed it with them on national TV during ‘Later… With Jools Holland’ for BBC Two. Currently based in Bristol and now signed to Invada Records, Maries is also known for her self-titled debut album – which BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Amy Lamé chose as her favourite album of 2020 – as well as the follow-up EP of ‘Emergency Telephone’ that took things to a more 80’s-leaning and characteristically aggressive creative direction in March. Her latest single, ‘Christmas Is For Lovers, Ghosts & Children’, has been released to Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-can basis with the sales going directly to Feed The Homeless Bristol. Let’s check it out.

Launched in 2016, Feed The Homeless has been providing extra care and help for people in Bristol who have needed to eat the most for the past five years by supporting them with nutritious meals distributed through their vans to people who are sleeping rough and are less fortunate than ourselves, and this year, they’re hoping to make Christmas more pleasant for those who can’t afford the essentials, yet alone the luxurious food that luckier people will be tucking into this year and the charity are raising money to keep the organisation’s van of ‘Trevor’ on the road to achieve the mission during the cold winter months that are very difficult for people. For Maries, ‘Christmas Is For Lovers, Ghosts and Children’ is another excellent single that is well meaning and socially significant. Despite the rather agonizing title, this is not an Anti-Christmas single and it doesn’t seek to demonize Christmas in any way. Instead, she is simply encouraging you to spare a thought and give a helping hand to people who really suffer during this exuberant time of the year. With hard-hitting lyrics like “What I’m seeing, what I’m hearing/Doesn’t add up to the season, that I’m feeling”, she highlights a disconnect between the extravagant meals and media representation of the Christmas season that advertisements draw us into and the more isolated reality that most experience at the time of yuletide. Moreover, the chorus of “When the people that you love/Go slowly disappearing/and when you gave your heart, yeah they give it back” encourages a simple recognition that Christmas doesn’t feel the same or mean the same to everyone in our modern society. She still presents Christmas as an enjoyable time, but one that also provokes thoughts and reminds us of the invisibility cloak behind the commercialism. All the hallmarks of a decent Billy Nomates track are here, with gently psychedelic Synth riffs and a danceable Drum Machine riff that bounces along the Euphoric bassline. This also feels suitable for the season, however, with some percussive Jingle Bells and soulful handclaps which complement the overarching request of supporting less fortunate souls during the season nicely, while her vocals are more sentimental, although I wouldn’t say totally vulnerable, than the typical Tor Maries track that you may find on one of her albums or EP’s regularly, but they are still tough and firmly rooted in the old-school Punk philosophy of her production. Overall, the customarily direct lyricism and the starkly honest style of the track make it a stand-out of this year’s Holiday-themed releases. I also like that it’s a charity single with some credibility and quality to it, as opposed to the likes of LadBaby whose novelty Sausage Rolls-themed offerings are waring thin on me, as it was only really funny the first time and not the fourth. A kind-hearted and well-produced charity single which is certainly worth a little change from your pocket.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Emergency Telephone’ (EP) (Released on March 5th, 2021) (via Invada Records UK)

If you’ve just been converted into the Billy Nomates fan club, why not also join the ‘Hippy Elite’ here?: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/08/todays-track-billy-no-mates-hippy-elite/

Pictured: Billy No Mates pictured on the cover art for her self-titled debut album (2020) (via Invada Records UK)

That’s all for now! Don’t forget to spare a thought for those who need it this Christmas, and I’ll be back tomorrow to pitch a dance track as an addition to your disco playlist at your office Christmas party on Friday night before we go all in on the cheese for Christmas with something jazzy on Thursday the 23rd. It comes your way from an Australian Electronic Dance music duo who have just released their first album in seven years on Future Classic and it has reached #6 in the Australian Albums Chart. They have worked with none other than Kylie Minogue – as well as including vocalists like Channel Tres, Bishop Nehru, Owl Eyes and Reggie Watts on their music.

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Today’s Track: Terry Presume – ‘Act Up’

December 17, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Terry Presume in a recent photoshoot for a Q&A feature with Notion (2021) (Photo by Grant Spainier)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to read all about yet another track on the blog as we swoop in for a refreshing change of pace away from the Christmas-themed coverage, not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A self-described “walking question mark”, the 26-year-old Nashville-based rapper-songwriter Terry Presume is an artist who simply refuses to box his music into any one genre and he’s been open as such with this mission statement in several interviews. Raised in the neighborhood of Golden Gate by a single Haitian mother, he first made waves as part of the South Florida Hip-Hop scene, which he’s even published his own guide about for Acclaim. Praised by MTV News, New York Times and Fader – Terry has a wide range of influences including Andre 3000 and Robert Johnson and he began writing poetry at the age of 8, eventually doubling down on his talents as a solo artist and creating bodies of work that were led by his personal emotions and lived experiences – instead of genres. His latest release is ‘What Box?’, a 6-track EP that follows his tumultous escape to Los Angeles with only high risk ambitions and less than $200 in his wallet. Released on July 29th via September Recordings – the short-form release was co-produced and also mixed by his longtime friends Alessandro Buccelati and Giancula Buccellati and, once again, he draws from a wide array of inspiration and he refuses to restrict himself to conventional genre molds. Lyrically, Terry explores deeply universal emotions and pushes up against social norms with an impact that forges new spaces for people who don’t quite fit into pre-existing labels. Three weeks ago, a new music video for the lead single – ‘Act Up’ – which was created by Overcast. This animated visualizer perfectly matches the Funk-oriented single with a narrative that follows the vibrant journey of a woman unable to get Terry out of her mind. Give it a watch below.

Talking to Amplify about the recent release, Terry Presume says, “Never allow yourself to be repressed by any societal borders, whether that be emotions, thought patterns, way of life or anything that intrigues you that may be deemed abnormal for your ‘standard’. Escaping the limiting stereotypes this world has provided is what ‘What Box?’ embodies”, in his press notes. Terry taught himself to write and produce his music when he was just 11 years of age, and he always used music – as the medium – to navigate the world and the different cultures he encountered as he straddled it. ‘Act Up’ feels like another pretty solid encapsulation of his ideas as an artist, matching poetic lyrics like “Love the lesson though I hate the pain/My hearts investment surely left a strain” and “You choose your weapon, nearly hit a vain/But I can see sadness in you” to match a voice of strength found by his admission of vulnerability over the top of a zany, psychedelic and soulful backdrop. Later lyrics like “I won’t be the reason why your heart broke/Even though my love is icy that’s cold” tackle heartbreak and vengeance as topics, while the proud declaration of “I’m gonna make you act up today/I’m going to make you wish you never left” during the chorus is a more hook-based affair, introducing some catchy Pop flair into the fray. The emotions that he writes this track about are all very human and relatable ones, and the production is bolstered by a light white noise hum that crafts up an illusion that the music is being heard through a crackling Vinyl, which also brings a retro style to the fold. The guitar melodies are full of late 80’s Funk licks, and the light distortion of the riffs during the bridges have a distinctly Post-Punk feel to them. There is a lot of different influences and varied styles going into this, but it’s held together by Presume’s charisma as a performer and the easily accessible material that he writes his lyrics about. The vocals feel energetic and the drums are met with a two-step garage beat feel which give them a Punchy rhythm underneath the stretching samples and the sparse R&B delivery. Overall, the likes of sorrow and spite through heartbreak aren’t topics that anyone finds very cheerful, but they are feelings worth honoring and anticipating for Terry Presume, an exciting artist who likes to keep his music as a diverse listening experience for his audiences. His music isn’t perfect by typical Top 40 radio genre standards, but his concept is that life isn’t always fair and comes lunging at you with problems fairly fast, which is still something that we can all relate to. I like this artistic side to him and his music appeals across a broad spectrum.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘What Box?’ (EP) (Released on July 29th, 2021) (via September Recordings)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to continue our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ for the year as the big day draws near with a late-90’s Brit-Pop number that appeals more to the novelty side of music. They weren’t really a group per-say, but more of a media project including a trained musician, a visual artist and a comedic actor who are all pretty famous. They were probably best known for recording an unofficial theme tune for the 1998 FIFA World Cup that reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart due to its memorable music video.

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