Way Back Wednesdays: Talk Talk – “Eden”

September 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Spirit Of Eden’ (Released on September 16th, 1998) (via Parlophone Records)

Good Afternoon to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to revisit one of the seminal sounds of the past that proved influential to those of the present for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week, for our feature, we’re looking back at the 80’s London-formed Synth Pop group Talk Talk, who you may have noticed circulating around some news circles, in publications like Pitchfork and KEXP, and that’s because the Art Rock trio’s 1991 LP release, ‘Laughing Stock’ is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary year since its original release. Their magnum opus, however, is more widely considered to be 1988’s ‘Spirit Of Eden’, which was absolutely showered with critical praise upon release following a long recording process at Wessex Studios. It was quite different to their more accessible hits – like 1985’s ‘Life’s What You Make It’ – in the sense that it drew from improvisational elements of Ambient, Blues, Classical Jazz and Dub music, and the LP made an appearance on NME’s list of ‘The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time’ back in 2013, despite receiving a muted commercial response due to it’s experimental approach at the time. In a tragic turn of events, we lost Talk Talk’s frontman Mark Hollis in 2019, but bassist Paul Webb and drummer Lee Harris have continued to work in the business as producers, and they have collaborated on a few seperate projects as a duo. ‘Spirit Of Eden’ was seen as one of the very early Post-Punk records, and it has been cited by contemporary groups like Elbow, Radiohead and Explosions In The Sky as a major influence on their output. Check out the fan-favourite piece, ‘Eden’, below.

Sadly, the daring and moody nature of 1988’s ‘Spirit Of Eden’ made Talk Talk a difficult act for their label, the Virgin-owned EMI Records division, to promote. When Hollis first sent a demo of the now-beloved LP to his producers, they doubted that it could become a commercial success and the band refused to tour in support of the album due to the difficulty of performing the tracks live, and, therefore, some friction was created with EMI, eventually resulting in legal action and counter-suing later on. The record did still, however, spend five weeks on the UK Albums Chart and it peaked at #19 there. It is a shame, then, that ‘Spirit Of Eden’ can also be argued as a catalyst for the band’s disbandment that was eventually confirmed in 1991 because, when you listen to ‘Eden’, it is easy to find the intriguing mix of textured guitars, pastoral electronic textures, an emphasis on dynamic transitions and fades between sounds, ambience and lovely minimalist elements that are heard as part of the equation breathtaking. ‘Eden’ is not marketable rubric, but it has an intellect that sets it apart from the mainstream tactics of the time. Vague lyrics like “Rage On Omipotent’ have a biblical charge, delivered with a wide-eyed voice that reminds me of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, as opposed to the more pop-friendly style of Duran Duran. Lyrics like “A child of fragrance so much clearer/In legacy” are just as hushed and restrained, and certainly open to further interpretation by the listener as either an embodiment of inner peace, or more alike to a haunting emotion. Either way, it boasts a sense of cinematic grandeur and Post-Rock minimalism that places a large emphasis on the large emotional pull that resides in the use of silence. There’s a harsh, yet thrilling, rupture of a lead guitar hook towards the end of the track, which also boasts a free-spirited feel and a free-form personality that marks another unexpected burst of both subtlety and discordant attitude. All in all, it’s a stunning piece of work that is a unique track – and a peculiar album – for several interesting reasons. A frail and challenging, yet a distinctive and rewarding, listen which simply dared to be different.

Pictured: Mark Hollis (Lead Vocals/Guitar/Piano), Paul Webb (Bass Guitar), Simon Brenner (Synths/Rhythm Guitar) and Lee Harris (Drums) (1982) (Photo via Michael Putland/Getty Images)

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me today and supporting my independent journalism, and please feel free to join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at a London-based producer who is gearing up to release a new album next month on BMG. He cleverly combines elements of Funk, Prog-Jazz, Neo-Soul and Hip-Hop into his repertoire, and he first emerged onto the UK’s Grime scene in 2007 with ‘The 140 Mixtape’. He has since collaborated with acts like Terri Walker, Flowdan and P Money.

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Today’s Track: Dawn Richard – “Nostalgia”

September 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Dawn Nostalgia in a ‘Second Line’ official press shoot (2021) (Photo by Alexander Le’Jo)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to, yet again, get writing up on the blog for another daily track on the blog, not forgetting that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A multi-talented Disco producer, Louisiana’s Dawn Richard is a singer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and animator who shot to success when she auditioned for the US TV reality talent series ‘Making The Band 3’ in 2004 as a member of the US girl group Danity Kane, who were officially active from 2005 until 2009. Since that time, Richard joined the duo of Dirty Money with her fellow American singer-songwriter Kalenna Harper, and she began her solo career as DAWN in 2011, before releasing six full-length albums on her own merit. Her latest, ‘Second Line’, was released through Merge Records and Entertainment One to critical acclaim earlier in the year, and the title refers to the parade tradition of the same name that occurs in Richard’s hometown of New Orleans, with the new record exploring the African-American cultural heritage of the practice and fuses elements of R&B, Disco, Hip-Hop and Ambient Pop together as a tribute to, as Richard states in the LP’s product description, “A movement to bring pioneering Black women in electronic music to the forefront”. The recent album also follows Richard’s alter ego as King Creole, an “assassin of archetypes, a Black girl from the South at a crossroads in her artistic career”. Sounds good! Her latest single, ‘Nostalgia’, has also seen tremendous support from BBC Radio 6 Music, KCRW and MPR’s The Current. Give it a listen below.

Regarding the album’s themes, Dawn Richard explained when her latest album was announced, “The definition of a Second Line in New Orleans is a celebration of someone’s homecoming. In death and in life, we celebrate the impact of a person’s legacy through dance and music”, adding to her press release, “I’m celebrating the death of old views in the industry. The death of boxes and limits. I’m celebrating the homecoming of the future. The homecoming to the new wave of artists. The emergence of all the King Creoles’ to come. This is our revival”, and so, on that note, it’s not tricky to see why forward-thinking radio stations like 6Music have pushed the track so heavily in recent months. A feel-good dance anthem for the modern society, ‘Nostalgia’ has a retro-revivalist sound that strikes me as Sophie Ellis Bextor goes experimental in terms of its creative direction, with Richard constantly asking rhetorical questions like “What does it mean to Second Line? To give the good footwork with the good work” atop a video game-like soundtrack that mixes twinkling Keys with chilled Lo-Fi House melodies. Later lyrics, like “I’m trying to find purpose/But I’m lost in your circus” are highly processed, and pulsates off the back of flickering bass lines that feel bouncy in texture, and uses spaced-out synths and ad-lib vocal sequences to put a more contemporary twist on the euphoric street dance traditions of the big, colourful parades of 80’s New Orleans. She also repeatedly asks the likes of “Do you love me anymore?” and “Can we work this out?” atop a robotic monotone ad-lib effect towards the end of the track, before declaring “I want those days back” in a stilted tone. The grooving synths and the rhythmic utters, however, thread different elements of Psych-Funk, Prog-Pop, House and R&B together in an effective way by mixing a slightly comical delivery with a nostalgic throwback feel that leans into Soul and engaging Synth-Pop. All in all, this is a well-developed dance track which feels eclectic and varied, and Richard nods to the past while pointing to the future in the way that she re-contextualizes the traditions that inspired the record.

Pictured: Dawn Richard in an official press shot for 21Ninety.com (2021) (Photo by @steviedphotos)

That’s all that I have time for today! Seriously… I have a shift at work coming up right after I’ve published this one. I’ll be back tomorrow, however, as we globe trot outside of my native UK again. My next pick comes from a Brazillian Alternative Folk singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger who has enjoyed heavy support from KCRW in recent months. Netflix fans will know him for performing ‘Tuyo’, the theme track for the Netflix original TV series’ ‘Narcos’ and ‘Narcos: Mexico’.

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Today’s Track: Mykki Blanco (feat. Blood Orange) – “It’s Not My Choice”

September 16, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep’ (Mixtape) (Released on June 18th, 2021) (via Transgressive Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and, as you’ve probably figured out already by this point, it is time for me to get typing up about yet another track for today’s post on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! An Alternative Hip-Hop and Psych-Soul rapper and solo singer-songwriter – as well as being an activist, poet and visual performance artist – Mykki Blanco has enjoyed a steady ride to fame, having worked with such lucrative mainstream mega stars like Taylor Swift and Kanye West. Blanco was first born in Orange County, California as the daughter of an IT specialist and a Paralegal at the North Carolina Patent and Trademark Office, before Blanco began hormone therapy for her transgender transition in 2019, having used different gender pronouns throughout their career to this point. They also published a manuscript of poems – ‘From The Silence Of Duchamp To The Noise Of Boys’ – in 2011. Having since contributed to works with Teyana Taylor, Blanco is now one of the leading figures in New York City’s LGBT popular culture scene. In June, they released a new mixtape, ‘Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep’ on the Transgressive Records label, the first of two short-form albums that Blanco is set to release this year and, technically, it marks their first proper studio music release since 2016’s ‘Mykki’. The new record sees them join forces with several guests like God Colony, Jamila Woods and Bruno Ribiero, and a physical release of the project is set to hit record shop shelves next month. ‘It’s Not My Choice’ finds Blanco working with the famous Soul mega producer Dev Hynes, who was previously a member of Test Icicles and he has since produced music with artists like Harry Styles, Blondie, Carly Rae Jepsen and Jazmine Sullivan, and he has released several critically acclaimed albums under the moniker of Blood Orange. He’s also directed the music video for this collaboration with Blanco. Give it a listen below.

“Creating with Dev Hynes [Blood Orange] as director of this video was as effortless as creating the song together”, Mykki Blanco said in a press statement, later explaining, “This video was carefree and captured what I feel to be some quintessential summer moments. Being with friends, being in nature, and having a sense of poise no matter your own personal thunderstorm” in their assessment of the collaboration’s process and influences. ‘It’s Not My Choice’ seems to find Blanco pondering the pro’s and con’s against deciding to end a relationship that has become dysfunctional. There are no sour regrets to this one, so to speak, but it finds them torn on whether to keep the romance afloat or to allow a natural change of heart to take precedence. These mournful lyrics are given a clean polish from Hynes’ production that, for my liking, has long taken cues from Prince and Janet Jackson in 80’s Synth-Pop flair. There is a soulful female vocal sample that adds radiant and long harmonies to the forlorn sounds, and Dev Hynes uses the strength of a catchy Piano beat and a smoky Trumpet backbeat to complement the Hip-Hop melodicism of Blanco’s lyrical delivery, as the two provide a tense and punchy soundtrack to the deliberation of a potential break up. The bassline feels understated and a little basic, but it’s given plenty of fresh energy from the explosive Synth pads, the ruminating Keys and the wistful Horn sections, while the more plaintive Percussion gives a more optimistic outlook to the emotional tug of war being evoked by the vocals, which Hynes also adds to with a crooning refrain towards the beginning of the tune, leading to a nice and apologetic vocal section that gives us some closure of the pre-built narrative when we reach the finale of the joint venture. Overall, this was pretty good. One of my minor gripes is how the album itself is only around the 30 minute mark in length, and so I think it could have done with two or three more tracks to flesh out the interesting ideas that Blanco has a little more thoroughly. Their sense of self-awareness mixed with the melodic production of the track is right on the cutting edge of rap-inspired Pop, however, and the contemporary twist gives fresh life to the 80’s influences. There is a bit of a niche here, and I would not say that I’m really the ‘target audience’ for this music, as such, but it does certainly feel like the right time to get some more diverse voices, that are worth hearing, into my ear plugs and Blanco is included in that for the good chemistry they exhibit with Hynes here. A crowd pleasing, infectious Pop record.

Pictured: Mykki Blanco performing at a fashion event (2020) (Photo by Getty Images/Edward Berthelot)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day, and so all that’s left for me to say is thank you for supporting the blog once again. I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ as you would expect, and I’m going for a pick that feels more left-field this week, as we’re going to be taking a closer look at the Footwork movement that was developed in 2010’s Chicago. It’s tied in with the new release from a pioneer of the genre, who has released a series of well-reviewed records on Planet Mu Records. In his earlier times, he made mixtapes for the Bud Billiken Parade.

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Today’s Track: Art School Girlfriend – “Softer Side”

September 7, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Is It Light Where You Are’ (LP) (Available from September 10, 2021) (via Fiction Records)

Good Morning to you! I am Jacob Braybrooke and, as you would have already entirely predicted, it is time for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If you’re a huge fan of Indietronica and melancholic Dream-Pop, I think Art School Girlfriend may be the perfect new artist for you. Often compared to The XX and Beach House in sound, this new project is the brainchild of Margate-based electronic music producer and multi-instrumentalist Polly Mackey, who is originally from the really quiet town of Wrexham in northern Wales. As an openly gay teenager, Mackey previously worked in London because she wanted to work for her crowd to be represented more naturally in the media, and she ended up becoming the leading lady for the Shoegaze band Deaf Club during her time there. After a string of solo EP releases and more solo studio work, she is set to release her debut solo studio album, ‘Is It Light Where You Are’, this Friday via Fiction Records – the same label that has been the home of The Cure for over 20 years. Mackey also joins the ranks of The Big Moon, Billie Marten, Crystal Castles and more there – and she has also toured with Marika Hackman and The Japanese House. Open your ears to her ‘Softer Side’ below.

Mackey says that her new album chronicles the last year in her life and her diaristic account of a break-up from a long-term love interest, set against her relaxed layers of digital sound. She says, “The record starts with that feeling of being on the precipice of change”, adding, “Before deciding to pull everything apart, go through it all and come out the other side”, to her press notes. Matched to a video directed by close collaborator Tom Dream, the lead single of ‘Softer Side’ is described by Mackey as a “Self-certified dream pop sad banger” on her Instagram page. Starting with some cascading Synth pad sounds, Mackey begins to hold on to the ideals of a love interest during a conflicting time, setting lyrics like “It’s better to lack what you need than to be pacified/I find a line of shade” above some whirring Synth loops and a tightly pulsing drum machine riff. The verses slow down the dream-like electronics for a more intimate focus, as lyrics like “Late at night and I feel you drift/Taking some sweet relief out there along with it” push against the expansive textures of the nocturnal-sounding Synths and the laidback Keyboard melodies, giving the sound a more emotive style. The chorus, however, takes these subtle Synth arrangements to a more melodic level and they point out a clearer 80’s Pop influence, where rhythmic lyrics like “Take me out tonight/Hanging on whatever you say” precede an instrumental break, and the ending refrain of “I know that I should go, but come to bed anyway” gives us a harsh reminder of her daydream-like ambitions rather than the reality of the dwindling relationship. Everything sounds very polished and very sultry, overall, with a good amount of intimacy to complement the slightly more ambiguous style of lyricism nicely. I think her vocals are really great here too because they show a decent mixture of vulnerability and hope, with washing Synth chords and frequent Drum Machine loops that give the track a slightly more catchy feel to counteract the more bleak songwriting. This feels like a lush mixture when Mackey sets them against the darker textures, with a shy delivery that aims to pull on your heart strings a touch harder. On the whole, it is an atmospheric piece which seems as smooth as chocolate.

Pictured: Art School Girlfriend (Polly Mackey) in a PR shoot (2021) (Photo by DominoPublishing.com)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day, and thank you for reaching the end of the journey with me. I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ where, rather differently for the feature in recent weeks, we’ll be taking a look back at a novelty track that time seems to have forgotten. It was strongly hyped up by a Levi’s jeans commercial in 1995 and went straight to the top of the charts. As of 2013, is still stands as the 79th best selling single in UK chart history, selling over 1.5 million units!

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Today’s Track: Sir Was – “Waiting For The Weekend”

August 31, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Joel Wästberg (aka Sir Was) in a ‘Says Hi’ EP PR shoot (2016) (Photo via GoldFlakePaint.co.uk)

Good Afternoon to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to deliver yet another daily track on the blog, because, yet again, it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I have picked something for today that I think anybody working in a primary school or on a 9-to-5 basis would relate to easily, and that’s ‘Waiting For The Weekend’ – the freshest new offering from Swedish electronic music producer Joel Wästberg, who releases his calming Nu-House material under the pseudonym of Sir Was. He began making music from his home, which is located in a village known for windsurfing called Frillesås located near the Western coast of Sweden. In his life, Wästberg has studied at the University Of Kwasulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa – and he has collaborated with modern Nu-Soul/Nu-Disco icons Little Dragon, who he was going to support on tour before the pandemic nixed those plans last year. I recently came across Sir Was when he was selected by BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne to be her ‘Spotlight Artist’ pick on ‘The New Music Fix’ two weeks ago, and he will be performing at the Eurosonic Festival in Gronigen, The Netherlands next January. Before then, his third solo studio album – ‘Let The Morning Come’ – is set to be released on October 15th via Memphis Industries, the same Berlin-based indie label that Field Music and Baba Ali have released material with. Let’s start ‘Waiting For The Weekend’ with him below.

In the two years since he released ‘Holding On To A Dream’, Wästberg received some life changing news in the form of inheriting the genes for a rare, hereditary condition causing multiple strokes, and the new record is a reflection on his enjoyment of life and how these experiences have allowed him to absorb creativity on a deeper psychological level, as he notes “At first, I got very sad and scared” about his devastating diagnosis, before he added, “But at the same time, it was like all the other worries I carried suddenly didn’t matter. I just got this very intense feeling of being alive” in his press pack for the Circuit Sweet website. ‘Waiting For The Weekend’ captures this free-minded spirit with a reasonably simple lyrical theme, which are paired with calming lo-fi synth beats and drifting percussion that connote a sense of bliss and relaxation for the listener, despite some more threatening subject matter behind the vocals. Basic lines such as “Bleak days/Slow pace” and “Past few days, been in the deep end” are short reminders for the listener to be kind to themselves when the traffic of the mind becomes crowded, and the repeating hook of “God knows it is a big deal/To feel some peace of mind” trades a distressing surface-level topic for a dreamier arrangement. The synth chords seem to be long and winding throughout, while the sonic Drum patterns have a hardened sense of punch to them. Stabbing percussion and Falsetto vocal effects make up the rest of his template, and the Funk-influenced blend of Electronica and Hauntology manages to feel more indie-friendly in the uplifting vocal message and the harmless bass sounds add a sense of chilled assurance that hides little away from the sparkling burst of wonky keyboard sounds towards the end. A well-rounded single that was definitely worth the wait for.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Let The Morning Come’ (Available from Oct. 15, 2021) (via Memphis Industries)

That brings us to the end of the page! Thank you for ‘Waiting For The Weekend’ with Sir Was and me, and I’ll be back tomorrow for a new entry in our ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ feature! This time, we’re looking back at a lesser-known vocal group based in New York who were formed in 1967 in Delevan, and, although they didn’t leave much of a wider mark at the time, many of their records have been re-issued by Cherry Red Records in the decades since their 00’s disbandment. They were hugely influential to many artists including Stereolab, Cornelius, The High Llamas and more.

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Today’s Track: Polar Noir – “If Everybody Listened”

August 9, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Sandra Gern (aka Polar Noir) in a PR shoot (2021) (Photo via Max Hartmann/Facebook.com)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for today’s daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up all about a different piece of music every day! I’ve got an aquatic start to the new week for you, which is the debut single to be released from an artist who has just announced their new project with ‘If Everybody Listened’, a track that was released to raise awareness for World Ocean Day on June 8th, a time with a mission to “inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean”. A Munich-based singer, songwriter, producer and radio host, Sandra Gern, is drawn to her fascination for marine life, and her own interests in preserving the Oceanic eco-system, and so she took the chance to unveil her recording project, Polar Noir, to share her love for these causes with her music. The song and music video will also be used for a television advertising campaign by NGO Orange Ocean, additionally being shown in Germany on channels like Comedy Central, ProSieben and N24 Doku over the summer months. She posted on Facebook, “I’ve learned that the music you make is never really complete as long as you don’t share it”, adding, “That’s why I’ve started this project. Some of the music I am sharing is brand new, but some was written or started somewhere within the last ten years. So, you’re warmly invited to keep me company making these songs complete”. Ironically enough, you can listen to it below.

In the near two month timeframe ever since ‘If Everybody Listened’ was released, the ocean caught fire in the Gulf Of Mexico, a sunken container ship loaded with different oils and chemicals has polluted the coast of Sri Lanka, and a group of tourists petted one of the most strictly protected whales in the Baltic sea and held them for a picture, and it died shortly after. Gern says, “These are the things many of us have heard of because they sounded lurid enough to be put into a headline. But the ocean is much more at risk than we hear and see in the media. That’s why I put these words including different organisations at the end of my music video”, to the press. A fusion of ambient Indietronica and traditional Dream-Pop, Gern addresses the ocean with lyrics like “The guilt is way too heavy for my single bones to carry” and “The gift we were once given, now is monetarily driven” that address her fascination for marine life in general and apologizes profoundly for the ways that humans have treated these environments as a tool for exploiting resources. The instrumentation has a spiritual feeling throughout, with vocals that are given a shiny bit of polish and an airy weight, in fact, making them tricky to decipher at times because of their floating effects that create a more inviting atmosphere than you may have expected. The glitzy Synth tones before the bridge, where Gern croons out, “I hope we’ll be gone, before you disappear forever”, is a particular highlight because the rumbling effect of the bass has an ascending feeling, and the subtle guitar frames goes nicely with the fragile, yet urgent, style of songwriting. The vocals are admittedly a little green, but Gern sums up the dilemma pretty well through the evident honesty of her lyrics and the gently melancholic feel of the Synth beats. These different parts all contribute to a lovely piece that hits close to home with the overall apologetic substance. If you have been affected by the issues that she has raised, you certainly should consider supporting some of the organisations listed at the end of the video, and keep Gern on your radar.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘If Everybody Listened’ (Single) (Released on June 4th, 2021) (via Polarness)

A perfect way to start the new week – and thank you very much for reaching the end of the page! I’ll be back tomorrow for something completely different, as we become acquainted with a young university-trained Reggae music producer who became obsessed with vintage Dub records from the likes of King Tubby, U-Roy and Scientist, and is determined to re-create their ethos in his own uniquely driven way. His new album will be released later this week on ATO Records, where you’ll also find names such as Brittany Howard, Amyl & The Sniffers, Altin Gün, Mattiel and Chicano Batman.

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New Album Release Fridays: Billie Eilish – “Lost Cause”

July 30, 2021 — Leave a comment

This is ‘No Time To Die’ for the masses of the Bad Guy’s fans out there. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Happier Than Ever’ (LP) (Released on July 30th, 2021) (via Interscope Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s finally time for yet another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Although I mostly cover the Alternative and Electronic varieties of music here on the site, I felt that US Dark-Pop sensation Billie Eilish was just too popular for me to ignore, and, to tell the truth, I rather liked what she did on her ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ record. Flash forward to two years from that time, and, the follow-up, ‘Happier Than Ever’, which comes from Darkroom Records, Eilish and her brother Finneas’ subsidiary of Interscope Records, has made its way to shop shelves today. To be honest, though, it really doesn’t feel like two years and I think that’s because Eilish has stayed in the consciousness of the mainstream between that time. The earlier album was such a huge hit and, in this day and age, it’s very common for pop stars to release a new single every six weeks or so because it operates like a fast food business, and I’m aware that Eilish has released singles like ‘Therefore I Am’ and ‘Everything I Wanted’ in the said interim, as well as composing the theme track for the upcoming James Bond film, although, given the amount of delays the studio has given that movie because they want the big bucks at the box office, I strongly suggest that ‘Plenty Of Time To Die’ would have been a far more appropriate title for that project. Check out the taster single ‘Lost Cause’ below.

Other than ‘Happier Than Ever’, I have to digress that it looks like slim pickings for me elsewhere. Other new offerings include the new record from Bleachers, yet another side project of pop’s busiest producer Jack Antonoff. Erasure have been preparing for the release of their remixed re-release of ‘The Neon’ today, and Bristol’s Yola takes a ‘Stand For Myself’ on her new second LP, as its title depicts. Back to the task at hand, Eilish sings about a toxic relationship and how damaging these situations can be for young people, while flipping the gender stereotypes on their head again, on ‘Lost Cause’. Counteracting the strong R&B influence of the chopped-up Drums with the Emo/Goth atmosphere of the glitchy counter-melodies, Eilish sings dramatic lyrics like “I sent you flowers, did you even care?” and “I used to think you were shy/But maybe you just had nothing on your mind” that are honest and playful, while Finneas shines behind the boards with a minimalist Trap beat and some harrowing Synth riffs that keep the sounds rolling with a nice balance of melody and darkness. The chorus introduces a soft guitar groove to the blend of R&B and Pop-Punk, as Eilish sings anthemic lines like “You ain’t nothing but a lost cause” and “I know you think you’re such an outlaw” in her typically low-pitched voice that skews more towards a whisper than an actual croon. Overall, I quite enjoyed this. The biggest reason being that Eilish could have easily turned this into a generic screamer of a teenage Pop track, but she didn’t, and she goes for something much more understated and austere instead. One of the gripes that I had, however, was also with the vocal tones. In some cases, the quiet bridge towards the end especially, she sounds a little more like she’s bored and also rather uninterested in the song, with some poorly filtered distortion effects, and I ultimately think the act of ‘Billie Eilish’ is more of a duo, with Finneas, than casual listeners may have picked up on. Otherwise, I felt this was certainly above-average in comparison to other modern mainstream artists who are never far away from chart success. That’s largely in part to her toying around with gender politics, and simply because I felt the song itself was pretty catchy. There’s more of a ‘night life’ style to this one, with some playful instrumentation and a slight Blues influence that makes the self-indulgence of her attitude come across organically enough, and that makes it quite charming. She doesn’t look particularly “Happy” on that album cover, however.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ (LP) (Released on March 29th, 2019) (via Interscope Records)

That brings us to the end of the page for another 24 hour period. Thank you for your continued support, and please feel free to join me tomorrow for something that’s also a little rare to make an appearance on the site. We’re listening to some brand new music from one of Metal’s top names, whose discography has grown to a staggering number of 40 LP releases – including albums, live albums, EP’s, and Compilation CD’s.

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Today’s Track: Baba Ali – “Black Wagon”

July 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

This house is not a house – It’s just a couple of sticks. Well below Zero. New post time!

Pictured: Baba Ali in a PR shoot for the ‘Rethinking Sexual Pleasue’ EP (2020) (Photo via Twitter.com)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and allow me to be your cool down away from the shining sun for your daily track on the blog, as per usual for this past week, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! A London-via-New York songwriter and producer, Baba Ali is never far away from reliable airplay on Alternative radio stations like BBC Radio 6Music and Cherry Red Radio, and he’s announced that he will be releasing his debut solo album, ‘Memory Device’, on August 27th via Memphis Industries. Ali was previously a member of the Alt-Soul duo Voices Of Black, before he moved to the UK to pursue a solo career and to study a Masters degree in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, a university in London. He’s since supported acts such as Kele Okereke (The lead vocalist of Bloc Party) and Gold Panda on tour, and he will be adding Leeds Post-Punk breakouts Yard Act to that list later this year. A musing on community and mortality, check out ‘Black Wagon’ below.

Working with Joe Goddard (from Hot Chip) and Al Doyle (from LCD Soundsystem) as producers for ‘Memory Device’, Baba Ali is now striving to get the glittery dancefloors moving again, after the year-plus long spell of the pandemic’s delays, with modern Disco records like ‘Black Wagon’. Ali says of the single, “Where I live in London, my window faces the High Street and I’m not far from a church. In the autumn, there were a lot of funerals, and the horse and carriage procession would often come down the street. It’s quite an arresting image; It feels like it’s from a different era. That’s the “Black Wagon” and the rest of the lyrics are me reminiscing about the feeling of going to raves and coming home at sunrise”, per his press notes. The path of Baba Ali’s ‘Black Wagon’ has taken him from a native home in New Jersey to a winding road in East London’s mixed community. Along the way, he fuses the styles of 90’s New-Age and electric Post-Punk for an effortlessly cool Alt-Disco beat. He opens with “Hopped on the 109/Wiping the cold out of my eyes” as an air of New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ hits the ground running as a shimmering bassline and flickering Synth patterns drives the melodic tempo forwards. Some lyrics, like “It’s a winding road/And every corner’s blind” observe paranoid society at a distance, while others, like “We caught the Metro North/We took in all the sights/A long way from home”, discuss the after close experience of a multi-cultural club night. The beats begin as fairly subdued, before the instrumentation pulls elements of Future-Soul and New-Wave into the fold with twisting Synth hooks and warped Keyboard riffs. The chorus goes for a euphoric feel, as Baba Ali sings “Round we go/Where we end, nobody knows” and “Black Wagon roll/Where we land we’ll dig our whole” as the songwriting becomes quite cryptic, but the added reverb to the Synths and the soaring bass guitar brings new energy to the equation. Ali comments on the experiences of changing a life cycle through living in different cities and experiencing different communities in a stimulating and thought-provoking way, but there’s some tension to the slightly distorting Synths and the loud guitar sample in the home stretch. A merticulously produced and elegantly balanced offering, ‘Black Wagon’ rolls along its road at a brisk pace, with plenty of engagement.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Memory Device’ (LP) (Available from August 27, 2021) (via Memphis Industries)

That’s the end of the road for ‘Black Wagon’, but please feel free to join me tomorrow for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ as we go retro once again for an in-depth look back at a mostly forgotten London-based dance music group who peaked within the UK Singles Chart on two occasions during the very early 1990’s. A handful of their tunes also reached the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, including a #1 entry on that specialist chart. The duo worked with musicians like ‘The Red King’ and Mike Spencer.

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Today’s Track: Pizzagirl – “Car Freshener Aftershave”

July 19, 2021 — Leave a comment

Love a bit of 80’s soft-Rock or 00’s Psych-Pop? You’ll want a Pizza this! New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Softcore Mourn’ (LP) (Released on July 16th, 2021) (via Heist Or Hit Records)

A good afternoon to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for a brief respite away from the scorching heat for your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Monday’s music comes from Liverpool’s Liam Brown, who has recorded his material under different names over the years, but his current and most notable solo project is Pizzagirl. He goes all-in on that theme as well, recording his brand of Indie Pop and R&B-infused Psych-Rock from his bedroom, which he calls his “Beatzzeria”. His influences include The Orielles, Grimes, David Byrne, Ariel Pink, and he loves a bit of Kelly Clarkson too. The follow-up to 2019’s ‘First Timer’, his second album ‘Softcore Mourn’ was released over the past weekend via Manchester’s Heist Or Hit independent label. It finds him venting out his own lovelorn frustrations of 21st century dating and pulling in some elements of Vaporwave. Check out the lead single, ‘Car Freshener Aftershave’, below.

After being away from Liverpool’s scene for a short break, Liam Brown had this to say about the new album: “Over the last year or so I’ve been screaming, sighing, crying and lying at my computer, which has manifested itself into my aptly titled second album Softcore Mourn”, adding, “The first single ‘Car Freshener Aftershave’ is a cold reminder to the internet that I still exist and I still haven’t figured that out yet. I’d say this is a break-up song” to his press release notes. Likened to LCD Soundsystem and The Postal Service by Gaby Mawson of Clunkmag.com, the new tune goes for a hint of nostalgia with 90’s dial-up tones and Prog-Synth sounds that appear directly lifted from the 80’s by complementing the retro, teen-hood aesthetic of the self-referential lyrics. The Chiptune-leaning vocals contort themselves around different layers of instrumentation that are continuously adjoined to the soundscape, as the percussive finger clicks and fizzy Lo-Fi synths emerge in the cutting edge of the fray at elusive key changes. Quirky lyrics, like “Where are the cameras? I must be punk’d” call back to outdated popular culture, and lines like “Well, if you’re gonna cry, then at least make it snappy/Cause once in a while, well, I kind of feel happy” add subtle sentimentality to the mix with a vocalist who feels socially pessimistic leading us on the charge. The chorus, led by “The California motel vomit/It’s like a Jackson Pollock” and “The California motel vomit/It wasn’t me, I promise”, emphasizes the quirky sense of his own self’s inertia. The ambient electronica bulk of the track feels like it’s been lifted from a falsely futuristic 80’s infomercial. Constructively, I think the production space gets a little too busy at some points, and I would have liked for his voice to come out more naturally at times. There’s more here to enjoy than not, though, with a fun edge of Prog-Synth and hyperactive visuals that make his breaking point seem believable, and there is clearly a welcome personality to this track. A stuffed, but delicious, Crust.

Pictured: Liam Brown (aka Pizzagirl) in a ‘Softcore Mourn’ PR shoot (2021) (Photo by HeistOrHit.com)

That’s all for today, but please feel free to join me again tomorrow for another slice of action. BBC Radio 6 Music are a huge fan of my next artist, who makes his debut appearance on the site tomorrow. The London-via-NYC songwriter and producer previously found his footing in the Future-Soul duo Voices Of Black, and he’s set to support Yard Act later this year ahead of the release of his new album – due in August.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Inspiral Carpets – “This Is How It Feels”

July 7, 2021 — Leave a comment

In Coventry Market – you could fall in love with a lady who sells rugs. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Life” (LP) (Released on April 23, 1990) (via Cow Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Every Wednesday, we love to revisit a seminal sound of the past that still influences the present, or an oddball rarity that you may have missed. Either way, Inspiral Carpets’ 1990 hit ‘This Is How It Feels’ trends towards the former option because it was the baggy band’s signature hit. A pre-cursor to the Manchester Brit-Pop movement of the later 90’s years, which then saw groups like The Stone Roses and Ocean Colour Scene rise to prominence, the Oldham-formed 5-piece were famous for using Organs and distorted guitars to implement Psych-Rock elements into their craft, and were famously signed to Mute Records – the home of 80’s Synth-Pop megastars like Duran Duran, Depeche Mode and Erasure. Very sadly, we lost Craig Gill (the band’s drummer) in 2016 due to suicide, which was caused by a severe case of Tinnitus that left him with insomnia and anxiety for over 20 years. Memorial services were held to pay tribute, attended by many of his friends and rivals in the pop music industry like Liam Gallagher and The Happy Mondays’ Rowetta over the decades. Let’s revisit their classic favourite below.

Following Gill’s death in 2016, his friends began a social media campaign to make Inspiral Carpets’ 1994 hit ‘Saturn 5’ the UK Christmas No. 1 song in the UK Singles Chart at the end of the year, and ‘This Is How It Feels’ saw similar chart success, becoming beloved by the masses and eventually peaking at the #14 spot. Did you know that it was also a hit in Australia? It reached the very specific spot of #149 in the Australian ARIA Singles Chart there. While the commercial success of a hit track is not always a good indication of it’s quality artistically, it’s also important to remind ourselves that, sometimes, crossover success and popularity happens for a reason. With the melancholic lyrics being likened to The Smiths and the Post-Punk Synth-led melodies being compared to The Doors, ‘This Is How It Feels’ still hits a soft spot between those two bands. Despite a buzzing electronic instrumental and a hopeful ambience, the track is actually about isolation and depression, with the two verses playing out as two different sides of the coin. The chorus of “This is how it feels to be lonely/This is how it feels to be small” talks about the bleak feeling that nobody understands you, how you can get trapped in a box of negative emotions. Lyrics like “Daddy don’t know what he’s done/Kids don’t know what’s wrong with mum” hint towards an affair caused by a husband to his wife, and how this affects the whole family, while the second verse references suicide when Stephen Holt sings “There’s a funeral in town/Seems they found him under the train” in the non-radio version, which is changed from the lyrics that you just heard in the music video. It’s an ace moody track and one that’s destined for “Songs that sound happy but are actually dark” lists on YouTube and the wider internet. It sounds typical of it’s time, with a Jangle-Pop rhythm section and a lighter chorus that really sticks out as an earworm in your head. However, the songwriting still feels relevant today as we continue talking about mental health issues in the media. All things considered, it’s a perfectly engaging reminder of the more vulnerable sides of life, and seeking purpose within it.

Pictured: Graham Lambert (Guitars), Stephen Holt (Vocals) & Clint Boon (Organ/Piano) making a statement in tribute to their drummer at the Phoenix Centre, Heywood (2017) (Photo by Dave Higgens)

There’s your daily dose! Please feel free to rejoin me tomorrow, where we’ll be delving into some brand new music from a Hard Rock duo who I would probably pitch as “Canada’s answer to Royal Blood” in an elevator. The duo have been best friends since the age of 4, and started to explore musical interests since falling in love with AC/DC at the age of 8. Here they are now – releasing their own material on self-release label Nowhere Special Recordings.

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