Power Electronics

New Album Release Fridays: Max Cooper – ‘Exotic Contents’

March 25, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Unspoken Words’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 25th, 2022) (via Mesh Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to get invested 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! Facing stiff competition this week from the likes of Ibibio Sound Machine, Young Prisms and Aldous Harding is Max Cooper, who earns the ‘New Album Release Fridays’ spot on the blog for his sixth studio album – ‘Unspoken Words’ – that he’s released today via Mesh Records. One for fans of ambitious experimental electronic composers like Phillip Glass or Jon Hopkins, Max Cooper is a London-based IDM, Electronica and Techno producer who takes his recordings to an audio-visual level. He’s received positive write-up’s from publications like Clash, and he has released a multitude of highly produced, emotive records for labels like the London-based FIELDS label and German label Traum Schallplatten. He has also remixed an exhausting list of artists including Hot Chip, Hiatus, Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, Guy Andrews, FC Kahuna, Michael Nyman, Jim Wallis, Henry Green and Stephan Bodzin over the years too. I read an article all about ‘Unspoken Words’ on Creative Review recently, and it sounded very interesting. For his latest project, Max Cooper has been exploring the difficulties of communicating with words to articulate your emotions, and the music is being accompanied by the Blu-Ray release of 13 short films – to represent each track on the record and serve as a meta-narrative to inform his work. Cooper will also be performing at Cambridge’s The Junction on April 20th. Check out Xander Steenburge’s video for ‘Exotic Contents’.

Xander Steenburge is a digital specialist who specializes in machine learning, who draws on the writings of 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein for the short film of ‘Exotic Contents’. These texts were fed to an AI system, which churned out the hypnotic visuals for the video. Talking about his collaboration with Steenburge, Cooper says, “It’s interesting for me to see the incomprehensible philosophical language interpreted visually like this, full of symbolism and the boundaries between language, our selves, the world, broken down into flowing abstraction. I haven’t really taken it all in yet, I feel like there’s more to discover in it that I can appreciate”, in his own words. Going back to the music itself, ‘Exotic Contents’ may feel like a subtle departure from the more club-oriented roots of his Techno-oriented work because he dips his toes into a collage-style suite of ambient and industrial sounds, where he uses an interpretation of words for an abstract soundscape where a half-time drum and bass format collides with the sharpness of his sound design. The beats scatter and break to an assortment of high-pitched frequencies, to the point where the production feels polished but not massively excessive. It carries the mood of a relief of stress or tension as a whole, and it definitely feels cathartic in the way that squelching breakbeats and the harsher, more dissonant Drums mimic the alleviation of a surging intensity by getting the chaos out of its system, in an ironic figure of speech. My main concern is that the music may not really communicate its ideas and themes clearly without any of the visual elements to help, and it may come across as challenging or tricky to initially grasp if you’re going into the album as a purely audio experience blind. Aside from that little question, it combines the clever pacing of IDM’s traditional production with a more intimate and emotionally driven core in intriguing and expansive ways – and the distance may not feel quite so exotic after all.

Pictured: Max Cooper in a podcast recording session for Sound Motives (2019) (Photo via SoundMotives.net)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you for continuing to support the site, and I will be back tomorrow to present my review for the newest comeback single by a Los Angeles-based rock band who are famous for albums like 2006’s ‘Stadium Arcadium’, 2002’s ‘By The Way’ and 1999’s ‘Californiacation’. They have won six Grammy’s and they just received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

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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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New Album Release Friday: Darkside – “The Limit”

July 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

The experimental duo who don’t always look on the bright side of life. New post time!

  • Pictured: Vinyl Copy of “SPIRAL” (LP) (Released on July 23rd, 2021) (via Matador Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time to take a moment out with 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! Latitude Festival may be the biggest talking point of this mid-July weekend, but, for those of us who couldn’t get ourselves a ticket and need to rely on getting our music fix elsewhere, there is a handful of new records available to fresh ears. Anne-Marie, Joel Culpepper, The Jungle Giants, Emma Jean-Thackray, Leon Bridges and Mercury Prize winner Dave all have new full-length albums hitting store shelves today. My pick for this week has been eight years in the making. ‘Spiral’ arrives this morning through Matador Records from Darkside, the collaborative side-project of the insanely prolific Chilean-American composer Nicolás Jaar and the Brooklyn-based rock multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington, a previous member of indie bands ARMS and Translations. The follow-up to 2013’s ‘Psychic’, the new record was written and recorded in 2018 and six of the tracks were largely made through an extended week-long session during that summer in New Jersey. It has a 79 on Metacritic to show solid reviews, with Charlotte Krol of NME calling it “A gorgeous, filmic record that rewards with each spin”. Check out promo single ‘The Limit’ below.

“From the beginning, Darkside has been our Jam band, something we did on days off”, Jaar spoke of Darkside’s return from hiatus, adding, “When we reconvened, it was because we really couldn’t wait to jam together again”, to the press release. Dave Harrington added, “It felt like it was time again. We do things in this band that we would never do on our own. Darkside is the third being in the room that just kind of occurs when we make music together”, to the press notes for the hype machine. Down to a tee, ‘The Limit’ is a psychedelic adventure through experimental corridors of patterns and exciting, wildly free-spirited tones that make the steadfast jolt feel like a diverse, atmospheric journey. Beginning with some intriguing Woodwinds-like sounds, Jaar laments a loss of grip on reality of life with contemplative vocals like “Don’t sow what you reap/Submit to the pace” and “The waters erase/Nothing left to see” as we build up to a lengthy instrumental that combines Folk-led guitar riffs with stiff Keyboard frames, with a driving Drum melody that adds a lot of heft to the strength. We reach a breaking point when Jaar refrains “Current with no direction”, as the steely frames take an intrusive turn to something that feels much more harsh and abrasive in setting, as the transcendant Funk beats grind to a squelching, grounded halt with grating guitar sections and propulsive Synth cuts. The finale is also dynamic enough to stay interesting on your repeated listens, as Harrington’s production cascades through jangled rhythms with an Acid rain-like quality, while Jaar’s vocals feel unphased throughout the obscure experiment of the five minutes. It’s a strange but controlled mixture of ambient tapestry overall, with an opening that reminds me of Django Django in it’s 00’s dance flair and Folk-inflicted guitars, but the following sequences of ethereal audio really keeps you on your toes and feels incomparable to much else in terms of it’s dissonant explorations of creaking acoustics. On the whole, it expertly walks the line of bizzare and frantic like a tightrope circus act, yet it never loses it’s footing to fall off the said tightrope in the analogy. It never feels like pure chaos, since the eclectic instrumentals have a coherent narrative of-sorts and the key changes never stray from the path of consistency too aggressively. It’s certainly not mainstream, but it’s good to remember that Darkside’s records are being aimed more towards an avid fanbase, as opposed to those who will just take whatever formulaic dance track the pop charts throw at them. The tune is a very cool record, with an ever-changing dymamic in sound that mixes Jaar’s virtuosic skill as an experienced classical composer with Harrington’s ear for psychedelic influences that he honed on the US DIY indie electronica scene. You can revel in it’s Jaaring nature. See what I did?

  • Pictured: Nicolas Jaar & Dave Harrington (2013) (Photo Credit: Jim Carroll/The Irish Times)

We’ve reached your destination – which is the end of the page for today! I’ll be back to do it all over again tomorrow, however, with an in-depth look into some brand new music from a popular cult UK lo-fi independent Prog-Rock duo – a married couple – who are making their second appearance on the blog with a new single that features the British godfather of Punk himself, Iggy Pop, to confirm their new set of tour dates.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Orbital – “The Naked and The Dead”

February 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

On gut reaction, I’d rather be in the former situation than the latter. Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Radiccio” (EP) (UK Release) (Released in 1992) (via FFRR Records)

Good Morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time again for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, because it is routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I’m pretty suprised that I’ve not covered any of Orbital’s work on the blog before, since the Kentish DJ brother duo of Phil & Paul Hartnoll are very much within my alley of 90’s electronic dance music releases. Yet, here we are – and it’s taken our weekly archive dig to get me there. A lost cut from the “Halycon” EP, which was released in the UK as the “Radiccio” EP here for us in the UK, and in Japan too, “The Naked And The Dead” is one of those deep dives Orbital tunes that time forgot, as is naturally the case with these projects. This EP barely managed to crack the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, but “Halycon” is still one of the better known tunes from the Hartnoll brothers, especially in the mainstream, and Orbital remains to be one of the most critically acclaimed groups from the 90’s peak of IDM and Acid Techno music. Known for their improvisational style in live DJ set performances, and the photographs of atomised Orbitals on their cover sleeves, Orbital took their name from the M25 orbital motorway of Greater London, which was central to the early rave scene in the South East during the early days of Acid House music. Let’s check out their deep dive below.

Orbital were mainly active between the very late-80’s and 2004, but they have reunited twice in the 2010’s since, with new albums each time to boot. According to the Hartnoll brothers, this old tune represents: “Consumer goods are tending to lose all use-value. Their nature is to be consumable at all costs”, elaborating on this,”Which is to say: Non-values or empty, fictitious, abstract values, you are no longer as old as you feel, or as new as you look, but as old as what you buy” in the original archives of the EP’s press notes. Touching on consumerist values and adapting lifestyles to fit social stereotypes as contextual themes, “The Naked and The Dead” gives me a somewhat dystopian vibe, because it’s simply one of the heavier releases that I’ve ever heard to come from the creative minds of the two Hartnoll brothers. Struck by an unrelenting Jungle influence, the drum beats sound tribal and the bassline hits a fast tempo. The vocals are a sample taken from Scott Walker’s version of the track “Next”, which, in turn, is a cover version of an old pop tune originally sung by Jacques Brel. The inspiration behind the “Halcyon” EP also revolved around Hartnoll’s mother’s addiction to the drug Triazolam for many years, which is obviously known as Halcion otherwise. This darker variation of tones, especially compared to past Orbital hits like “Chime” and “The Mobius”, feels reflective of that matter. The repeating hook is sporadically layered under a polished Drum sequence, while the Synths give off a viably more strobe lighting-like effect that was a good fit for late-night festival sets. While retaining it’s dance-oriented roots, the layering of the synths and the drums is quite merticulous, with the ethnological drum beats and the trickling Synth sequences replacing old Drill ‘N’ Bass production with the West African-influenced percussion. After the sweat dries, the track likes to keep itself afloat by repeating the opening sequences and incorporating the Scott Walker sample to add a slightly soulful quality. It would ware a bit thin by the end of the long 12 minute remix also found on the EP, but it works for the short version. It wouldn’t be classed as one of their greatest hits, but it’s worth a tad more recognition than it gets.

  • Pictured: Phil Hartnoll (DJ/Producer) and Paul Hartnoll (Synths/Drums) (2017) (via Channel 4 News)

And… we’re back in the present! Join me tomorrow, where I’ll be contrasting these ancient throwbacks with some brand new music that I’ve recently discovered through the Bandcamp app. Join me again then – for an in-depth look at a single from the sophomore album to come from a Danish indie Post-Punk Revival band, who have just released the new LP on Fat Possum Records. Boasting a decade of experience, the 21-year-old frontman has previously been a part of his local indie rock band Cola Freaks, and has ran two indie music labels under his wing – Shordwood and 100 Records. 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/

Today’s Track: Ela Minus – “They Told Us It Was Hard, But They Were Wrong”

February 9, 2021 — Leave a comment

A fresh discovery – ready for you to give either a Plus or a ‘Minus’. Time for a new post.

  • Pictured: Ela Minus at Moogfest in Durham, North Carolina (2019) (Photo via Novationmusic.com)

Good Morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up on the blog for your daily track because, as I’m constantly reminding you, it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Ela Minus is a name that previously eluded me for a while, as I had sifted through sparklers of her material through some support on BBC Radio 6Music and through some bits-and-pieces sent to me by my cohorts from the Student Music Network over the past few months, but it was when I saw her fantastic live performance for KEXP’s Live At Home series that my ears finally paid her the notice she deserved. Currently based in Brooklyn – but born and raised in Bogotá, Columbia – this Techno wizard fell in love with the drums when she attended the Berklee College Of Music when she was 18. Her debut album, “Acts Of Rebellion” was released in late October by Domino Recordings – the same label where you will find more familiar names like Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip and Anna Calvi. The 10-track LP received positive reviews, and she cements herself as an effective One-Woman orchestra with a love for exploring Witch-House, Techno, Art Rock and Dream Pop. She also uses the slogan of “Bright Music For Dark Times” to describe her own style, and it is ironic because her music sounds generally pretty moody despite the twinkling keyboards. “They Told Us It Was Hard, But They Were Wrong” is my favourite track of her’s. Check it out below.

Her real name is Gabriela Jimino – and in an ideal world, she would have supported Caribou on tour and then played a euphoric live set at the gigantic Coachella festival last summer, but we all know how that plan turned out. Nonetheless, she summed up her music in an interview with WODJ Magazine, by saying that her overall message of her work is that “I want to give people an alternative. An alternative to everything, another path, another way forward” within her textures. She is as much of a hardware tinkerer as an educated composer, and each of Minus’ mantras feel precisely reflected in the above track. Set off by slowly bubbling sequences that lead into stroking Synth blips, Minus’ voice flows into the chilling grooves created by the Staccato synths and the sonar-like pulse of the airy, gently breathing chord progression. It never quite feels like club music by the direct opening, but the pacing of the sequences gradually intensify and the Drums work in tandem with a provocative Keyboard riff to create a more cooling atmosphere to the darker tones in the towering synth beat. The vocals, meanwhile, create a moodier variation of tones where refrains like “We always know in the first minute or so/If something’s worth staying for” and “If you have to go to the bottom of a hole, To find what’s wrong, just let it go” feel as though they are mildly provoking a resistance. The sequences are broken up by a slower bridge, where Minus’ half-spoken and half-sung voice adds further intrigue. It takes a little while for a big beat to drop, but when it does, it’s paired with an oddly motivational set of lyrics, and the crescendo of the built synths release the tension with a more rhythmic undertone, where looping sonics and meandering keys riff on the more hopeful ambience. What I really love about this track is that there’s a real spirit of DIY Post Punk hidden in the execution though it bears no resemblance to the shouting and guitars of that genre. It really gradually becomes about freedom and independence, and defiance against the corporate. I love to picture this being played at some artsy elaborate French fashion show of modern art, but it also sounds like it could be directly taken from a high-budget Spy flick or a John Wick-like action sequence. It draws on the cinematc, while keeping the underground roots of the ideas intact, sounding like Billie Eilish goes Kraftwerk in the provoctive textures. The underlying theme of her music is an idea that resistance grows from everyday practices, and this feels harsh yet inspired. This is phenomenal and she’s going to do remarkable things.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Acts Of Rebellion” (LP) (Released on October 23, 2020) (via Domino Records)

There’s enough rave-reviewing from me for today! Yet, we’re shifting away from the relatively new releases to the comparatively vintage offerings tomorrow as the “Way Back Wednesdays” series once again takes the floor. In tomorrow’s new entry to the growing library of the feature, we’re going to take a detour back in to 1999 for an in-depth listen back to what is presumed to be the first-ever recording put out by one of Warp Records’ highly prolific electronic dance music producers – Who used to previously self-release his own material for his very own independent label which he famously named “Mute Recordings”. 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/

Today’s Track: The Sleaford Mods (feat. Billy No Mates) – “Mork ‘N’ Mindy”

January 30, 2021 — Leave a comment

It’s just what the Skeleton ordered at the restaurant – Spare Ribs. Time for a new post.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Spare Ribs” (LP) (Released on January 15, 2021) (via Rough Trade Records)

Good morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke and, as per usual, it’s time for me to get typing up on the blog about your daily track – and that’s because it’s always been my day-today pleasure to write up here about a different piece of music every day! You might be used to the good old Chinese takeaway on a Saturday – Spare Ribs, perhaps? In this case – “Spare Ribs” has a totally different meaning, and it is also the title of the latest album by Sleaford Mods. Since they formed in Nottingham in 2007 – the Electronic Post-Punk-meets-Rap-meets-New Wave duo have released one album after the other, pretty much every year or so. Known for their abrasive, multilayered electronic instrumentals of DJ Andrew Fearn and the strong East Midlands accent of vocalist Jason Williamson, the duo usually voice their bitter inquiries of Austerity-era, low-class Britain through the harsh musicality of their work. Although this is certainly not a mainstream release, the duo have been enjoying a large spread of commercial success and critical acclaim in recent times. “Spare Ribs” reached #4 on the UK Albums Chart last week, and the lead single of “Mork ‘N’ Mindy” was a #1 hit – but for the UK Vinyl Singles Chart. Many critics have also cited “Spare Ribs” as being the first truly great album of 2021 since it was released via Rough Trade Records on January 15th. The LP’s title refers to “the idea of the amount of people that died from the first wave of Coronavirus: human lives are always expendable to the elites. We’re in a constant state of being spare ribs”, according to Williamson. “Mork ‘N’ Mindy” features Billy No Mates – a standout new artist of last year – and you’ll also find Amy Taylor, of Amyl and The Sniffers’ fame, on the album too. Let’s sample “Mork ‘N’ Mindy” below.

Williamson states: “Mork ‘N’ Mindy is the sound of central heating and the dying smells of Sunday dinner in a house on an estate in 1982. Concrete, dinted garages, nicotine”, in the press notes for the duo’s recent release, adding: “Where beauty mainly exists in small cracks on the shell of your imagination. Captured perfectly in Ben Wheatley’s video for the song”, as he confirms our suspicions that “Mork ‘N’ Mindy” is lyrically touching on the unromantic view of Britian – where grubby council estates and illegal gambling shots are the UK that some of our nation know. Fearn lays a trap beat, as Williamson spits mannerisms like “Action Man ‘n’ Cindy, I make ’em kiss each other when my mum ‘n’ dad go out” and “I live on a really depressing cul de sac, Where couples get divorced and people come up that you’d never seen before” as he latches onto themes of neglected childhood and troubled upbringing. The lyrics don’t beat around the bush at all, but small and sly lines like: “Wi-Fi’s gone all lo-fi, my arse is feeling too dry” and the odd “just hanging about” adding a very slight crackle of black humor to the verses. The guest spot from Billy No Mates adds new dimensions to their sound, with a New Wave tingle of “You’re not from round here, crash landed about a week ago” and “The furniture’s the same, but the menu’s rearranged” trending towards a slightly more melodic direction. The beat isn’t veering into Disco synths or anything, but the instrumental beats and the rhyme scheme of the lyrics mirror Trance, and it becomes slightly danceable. The ending of “I looked out of the throw, outside of my window” and “Outside there wasn’t anything nice to see” is another hard-hitting affair verbally, but the electronics add a pace that feels melodic enough for the foul-mouthed wordplay to mirror gentle Hip-Hop and a slightly dancey vibe. It feels structured very evenly, with the female vocals of Billy No Mates becoming my favourite part of the track. That said, I probably wouldn’t want to listen to a whole album of this – just because I feel that some of the political messages may wash over me, and the more aggressive sound of the remaining tracks may not sustain my interest. The production, overall, though – is good, and the single gets a thumbs up from me. It does not fall within my wheelhouse for longer listening, but the single attains enough appeal for me to score my approval.

  • Pictured: Jason Williamson (Vocals) & Andrew Fearn (DJ/Synths) (2017) (Photo via Stereogum.com)

Back in September, we joined Billy No Mates in the “Hippy Elite” on the blog. Check out the titular single and hear a sample of Billy No Mates’ solo work on the blog here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/08/todays-track-billy-no-mates-hippy-elite/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Billy Nomates” (LP) (Released on August 7th, 2020) (via Invada Records UK)

Thank you very much for checking up on the blog today! As always, it’s time for a brand new entry into the library of our long-running Scuzz Sundays feature on the blog tomorrow, as we take an in-depth look back at one of the Emo-Rock and Pop-Punk classics of the late-90’s until the mid-00’s that influenced the sounds of the present – or may be better off left in the past. Tomorrow’s track comes from a California-born Nu Metal group who have two double platinum certified albums in the US, and they have won two MTV Music Video Awards out of a possible eleven nominations. 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/

Today’s Track: Boards Of Canada – “An Eagle In Your Mind” (1998)

November 3, 2020 — 1 Comment

David Attenborough would be all over this bird of nature! It’s time for a new blog post!

  • Pictured: Marcus Eoin and Marcus Sandison in a vintage press shot (unknown date) (via Warp Records)
    Pictured: Marcus Eoin and Marcus Sandison in a vintage press shot (unknown date) (via Warp Records)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to repay my promise of typing up about your daily track on the blog today, as it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! An interesting classic IDM record that I’ve been listening to over the last few weeks is “Music Has The Right To Children”, an ambient record from 1998 which was self-produced by Boards Of Canada, a Scottish electronic music duo, on the Warp Records label. The piece of material went down as a landmark in electronic music work, and it has appeared on many best-ever lists from music publications like Pitchfork and Mojo. While the bulk of electronic music sprawls from Industrial and futuristic technology from urban environments – the intriguing case of Boards Of Canada is that the duo grew up in a very small urban community in Scotland, where they have since remained very reclusive from their fanbase, hardly ever taking part in any press interviews or live performances. For “Music Has The Right To Children”, the brothers of Marcus Eoin and Mike Sandison decided to create experimental sounds from outdated analogue software and samples taken from 1970’s public broadcasting children’s programmes to invoke themes of early childhood, nostalgia and nature. The duo have shrouded themselves in secrecy, and started making music by sending Casettes of their work to their friends and family. Let’s see a fan-made video for “An Eagle In Your Mind” below.

Fan-made videos have played a significant factor in keeping the Boards Of Canada’s fanbase active over the years, with long gaps of years between the subsequent album releases, and the band managed to pull off an elaborate “Easter Egg Hunt” in the highly-anticipated marketing push towards 2013’s “Tomorrow’s Harvest”, but that’s another story for another day. “An Eagle In Your Mind” is the third cut on the track listing for “Music Has The Right To Children”, and it perfectly sums up the basic key elements of the album, for my two cents. As you’ve probably noticed, it’s not really a track that is very accessible from a dancing point-of-view – despite being labelled as an “IDM” release. Instead, we’re given some meditative textures and peculiar sounds that feel rooted in degraded synthesizer hardware and 1970’s-inspired Hip-Hop break-beats. The track begins with a slowly fading synth line that soon washes over the top of a scratching, downtempo turntable beat sample. The sound, although entirely instrumental, manages to feel very rich and fresh because it sounds emotionally mature and hallucinatory, to a degree. Ideas of early childhood memory and adolescent behaviour peek their head in at a midway mark, when the tempo of the Syncopated backing beat increases and a very abrupt vocal sample of “I Love You” cuts into the picture, and it signals for a whistled backing vocal sample and an emerging synth line that comes into full force later on, with a harsh ambience that seems very dense. There may not be very much going on here, melodically – but the lo-fi beats have been layered in a hugely calculated and meticulous manner. The ideas of early childhood memory develops very smoothly, as a result, with cut-off samples and resonating synth work managing to evoke emotions which are ever so slightly strange and peculiar – and – for me – this is what manages to make the record stand out as a truly fascinating and unique project. It feels as if you’re a child, sitting at the TV, watching old advertisements fly by, or like you’re riding a bike with your friends around the countryside as your mind wanders to an imaginative, fantastical place. In a nutshell, it plays out like an adult’s reflection of their nostalgia – as you’re left with fragments of memories at this stage of your life and it’s hard to filter what is real and what is fantasy as a child anyways – and the record is bizarrely accurate in doing so. An album that would take time and perseverance to connect with you, but – depending on your upbringing as I was a strange child myself – it will slowly reward you with a payment of nostalgic, intricate sounds which are unrivalled. Go and listen!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for "Music Has The Right To Children" (LP) (Released in 1998) (via Warp Records)
    Pictured: Cover Art for “Music Has The Right To Children” (LP) (Released in 1998) (via Warp Records)

Thank you for reading my new post! Please feel free to join me tomorrow – where we’ll be making a change of pace with an in-depth look at the latest album from one of the most legendary African-American Hip-Hop groups of all-time, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Fame in 2013, and critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine named them as “The most influential and radical band of their time” for AllMusic in 2017. 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/

Today’s Track: Nicolás Jaar – “Faith Made Of Silk”

September 10, 2020 — Leave a comment

Christina Perri may be collecting up a new ‘Jaar’ of hearts. It’s time for your new post!

  • Pictured: Nicolás Jaar busy making new music in his studio (2019) (Photo by Timothy Norris/Getty)

Good Morning! I am Jacob Braybrooke and, as per usual, I’m writing about your daily track on the blog, because it’s still routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! One musician who has certainly been keeping himself very busy, when confined to Lockdown, is Nicolas Jaar, a Chilean-American electronic music composer, who released two whole albums this year. “Cenizas” was released in late-March, and “Telas” followed up in mid-July. It marked the end of a 4-year gap since the release of both of his last two albums in 2016, but the odd release strategy is fairly atypical of Jaar’s work, as this is a recording artist who has very much become well-known for releasing an enormous number of ambient experimental compositions via his own independent label, Other People. Some of Jaar’s most experimental endeavors include a five-hour live improvisational concert at MoMA PS1 in 2011, and his score for the Palme d’Or-winning feature film, Dheepan, which was directed by Jacques Audiard and released in 2015. He’s kept prolific over the years for being one half of Darkside (a duo with Dave Harrington) and performing two album’s worth of material under the moniker of Against All Logic. “Cenizas” was released in late-March, and it gained a unanimously positive critical reception, scoring 86/100 on review aggregation website Metacritic to signal for “Universal Acclaim”. One of the most popular tracks from that record was “Faith Made Of Silk” – Let’s stream it below!

The climactic conclusion to an almost hour-long album, “Faith Made Of Silk” tends to lean deeper into contextual themes and atmospheric tones than his more immediate work on 2011’s “Space Is The Only Noise and 2016’s “Sirens”, despite it still qualifying to be one of the most beat-driven and lyrically decipherable compositions on the recent record. This provides the rare instance of a song for the Drum riff-age to lead the way, with chiming melodies and fragmented sequencing effects creating a darkly harmonious, chiming ambience. Jaar’s specific lyrics are also the clearest on the record, as Jarr vocally layers a cautionary tale of finding weakness in the descent to uncertainty, which feels very timely of the rougher Covid-19 situation at the time of the album’s release at the end of March. He desperately adds: “Look around, and not ahead/You have nowhere to look/A peak is just the way towards, A descent” to remind listeners of his philosophy in how the act of leaving an emotional hardship or darkness behind, is not necessarily about refusing to acknowledge that it may not ever return, as the grief is still left behind. Somewhere within the ethereal qualities, however, is a contextual glimmer of hope. A gasp of relief can be audibly heard in Jarr’s voice, and a slightly more melodic and beat-driven instrumental points towards a future of peace. I hate to use the word “Grounded” to describe the qualities of the atmosphere, because the term feels to have become dramatically over-used in media reviews and promotional interviews in recent times. Albeit, in this case, I think it’s true. The Drums provide the only real sense of melodicism, but these sections, in the texture, feel harmonious and optimistic enough to carry the rhythms and patterns forward with a driving force. I understand that it can pften be very hard work to really “get into” such a richly layered and enigmatically ambient record such as this at times, and I think a lot of perseverance and co-operation may be required from a more passive or casual audience to fully understand what Jaar is melodically toying around with, but I think it makes for a rewarding payoff in the end, and the energy of trying to “crack the mind” of a melodious tinkerer such as Jaar is often a part of the enjoyment. It’s not typically my kind of bag when it comes down to personal preference, but it’s well-developed and intriguing technically, with intricate layers of Bass and quiet elements of Power-Electronics lurking around every corner of the soundscape. I will be repeat listening in my own efforts to “crack the mind” for myself.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Cenizas” (Album/LP) (Released on March 27th, 2020) (via Other People)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! As always, I’ll be back for another daily musing tomorrow. We’ll be continuing to catch up with some of the under-the-radar releases of the year so far, as we take an in-depth look at the, unfortunately, overlooked new album from a female-led British lo-fi indie punk 4-piece outfit who formed in Brighton in 2015, and describe their own sound as “Slacker Indie”. The band’s frontwoman appeared on an episode of Steve Lamacq’s Roundtable on BBC Radio 6Music as a panelist and their latest album has recently been shortlisted for this year’s Mercury Prize. 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/

Today’s Track: Jockstrap – “The City”

June 17, 2020 — Leave a comment

The two giving ‘The Beauty and The Beast’ a needed modern spin! It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Georgia Ellery (Lead Vocals/Violin) and Taylor Skye (Backing Vocals/Producer/Flute) (2019) (via BBC News)

This Experimental duo are inseparable… Or, so it seems! Good Morning, I am Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog because – as I keep reminding you each time – it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Jockstrap, along with 5-piece alternative punk group Squid, are one of the most recent sign-ups to the iconic Warp Records label, which has housed a range of genre-blurring artists like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher since the 1990’s. Jockstrap are a brand new duo from Guildhall, London comprised of youngsters Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye, who met while studying at the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama in 2016. It’s very difficult to box the duo into one specific genre, and Kev Geoghegan of BBC News called them “The music duo defying description” in 2019. It’s fair to say that “Acid”, their single released in April, completely blew my socks off. “Acid” paired soft violin strings with metallic synth beats, with classical-style lyrics, that created an odd ballad of strange Acid-Pop sounds. I was delighted to read that Jockstrap have been working on their second EP, “Wicked City” – and it’s set to release this Friday! Get a taster of the unique duo with new single “The City” below.

In a way that feels inspired by “Acid”, the duo mesh two seemingly different songs together to lull you into a false sense of security and comfort, before unleashing an unexpected storm of strange, surreal brilliance on “The City”. Again showing off an impressive vocal delivery, Georgia Ellery starts: “The city I met was pink/I tasted the city, ate out in the city” over a somber Piano line and very minimalist instrumentation as she remembers her time spent in a city shared with someone who is no longer part of her life, and a dream or a fantasy that never materialized. The piano notes feel lonely, and Ellery continues to sing in an old-fashioned crooner style that gives off a broken record effect, before, all of a sudden… They flip the switch. An aggressive, industrial synth beat creeps into the frame, which glitches and buckles with heavy distortion effects, and the duo put the use of feedback noise to strong effect by making this plot twist sound glitched and trippy. The tempo shifts with disorientation, and the pitch dips in-and-out of a compressed high-pitched and an overly bass-driven reverb delivery. The vocals dramatically change from a child-like lullaby to a freakish nightmare, as Ellery spins the surreal spoken word section with lyrics like “I sat on the beaver’s face/He sat on the beaver’s face and told him what the problem was” and “Ginger Marmalade/Plastic Jelly, Jelly”, that sound nonsensical and cold to a degree that makes it begin to feel grotesque. Ellery’s vocal pitch delivery sounds incomprehensible, ranging tremendously, with a beat that feels influenced by hip-hop and drum-and-bass in it’s ever-winding distortion effects. The innocent piano ballad feels beautiful and soft, while the lysergic second half is visionary and uncomforting – and this bewilderment is what is making me feel captivated by Jockstrap. I even prefer “The City” to “Acid” due to it’s energetic storytelling, and a sound that has to be experienced individually. I could never see this track getting on a daytime radio playlist of any station because there’s no way that the mainstream are going to get it – but I don’t want them to. The sound feels very creative and inspired, it seems a bit too clever for the masses. It’s faultless. I’m highly excited for the new EP.

  • Pictured: Georgia Ellery & Taylor Skye in a press shoot to promote the release of “Acid” (2020) (via DIY Mag.com)

You can also discover or revisit “Acid”, along with my positive thoughts on it here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/21/todays-track-jockstrap-acid/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Wicked City” (EP) (Set for release on June 19th, 2020) (via Warp Records)

Thank you for reading this post! In regards to #BlackLivesMatter, we endorse the peaceful protests on One Track At A Time. Please go and check your local area for good charity causes that help those directly affected by racism and injustice. I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at a slightly older track that I didn’t get around to covering earlier, from a Newcastle 5-piece Indie Rock band led by Hazel Wilde who are signed to Bella Union in the UK, and PIAS Recordings in the US, who released their underrated fourth album “Spook The Herd” back in February! 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/