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: Kozmodrum – “Wormhoooooooooole…”

August 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and now is the time for me to pollute your ears with another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write to you about a different piece of music every day! This is a shortened week of project work for me on the blog this week, and so I’ll be going away for my sister’s wedding during the week, but I still wanted to sneak ‘Wormhole’ in, and this new one comes from a Croatian 5-piece group called Kozmodrum. Exploring Dub, Techno and House, the quintet have found success in their domestic market and they seem to be looking to gain new fans overseas with the release of their self-titled third full-length album, back in June, via Rika Muzika. Describing their sound as “Organic House Music”, the band use the framework of a DJ set by producing electronic compositions that were designed to be played openly, where they loop beats until a cue point is given to indicate a switch to another part. On Facebook, they pitch this as “Jazz-infused Post-Rock meets Ambient Electronica meets Tech House with a percussion twist”, and that sounds really good to me. A 5-piece led by a classically trained drummer – Janko Novoselić – Kozmodrum won a Porin Award (The Croatian equivalent to the BRIT’s) for their second LP, ‘Gravity’, released in 2017. I was really pleased that John Ravenscroft introduced me to this project on BBC Radio 6 Music a number of weeks ago because it’s been growing on me ever since. Check out the lead single of the band’s new album, ‘Wormhole’, below.

Kozmodrum cites Tycho and Elektro Guzzi as their stylistic influences for their new record, and they told Twisted Soul, “After our first two albums, that were each very different in their own way – the first one being an exploration of Jazz/Fusion moods and the second veering toward more electronic/ambient atmospheres – this album is the most truthful representation of how we really sound live” in their own promo message. ‘Wormhole’ is a tune that was being developed over the space of five years until it reached its final form that you can hear on the new LP, and this tireless dedication to their own craft clearly shows in the meticulous structuring and the layers that build throughout the track. The six-minute duration seems to be on the longer side of things, but the instrumentation is paced nicely and it feels packed neatly considering the various Drum, Synth, Keyboard and Bass sequences in play. There’s no vocals, just pretty guitar melodies and splashings of rumbling Bass that gets a light-hearted tone across, and the animated music video adds nicely to the hand-woven aesthetic of the overall proceedings. As you would expect for a mix between Jazz and non-traditional Dance music, there is a fairly minimalist start to things before the different layers keep building and then evolving to form new loops, creating some sublime electronic grooves that have a bright warmth to them in the process. More complex, fragmented and harmonic Synth sounds follow in the later stages and small elements of Prog-Jazz and Math-Rock are evoked through the specific timing schemes. I really like how the track takes cues from Nu-Jazz, non-traditional Punk and experimental Electronic music to do something unique with the instruments being used, and the resulting sound is a blissful and chilled affair that is never afraid to throw some rougher sounds into the mixture. Once established, the grooves bump and slither their way through a Psychedelic concoction of genres that just slips neatly into your ears and keeps you actively listening out for the chord changes at the same time because they feel interesting and carefully textured. In summary, it is a lovely listen and definitely worthy of more ears than it’s been getting.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Kozmodrum’ (Self-Titled LP) (Released on June 25th, 2021) (via Rika Muzika)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you for reaching this historic part of the day for me, and please feel free to join me again tomorrow as we do it all over again. I’ll be supporting more music from a lesser-known artist in John Peel style again as we take a detour into some DIY Hip-Hop production. My next pick comes from a 30-year-old rapper from South East London who has based his new album, ‘Section 1’, on the tragedies that have all defined his twenties, such as mental health struggles and familial loss. It’s a hard-hitting listen that demands your hearing.

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Today’s Track: MNDSGN – “Hope You’re Doin’ Better”

August 3, 2021 — Leave a comment

Massaging the inner workings of your crowded mind on a bright day. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Rare Pleasure’ (LP) (Released on May 14th, 2021) (via Stones Throw Records)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to unload with another music recommendation for you, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Rare Pleasure’ is the brilliant new album on Stones Throw Records from the Los-Angeles based singer-songwriter and graphic designer Ringgo Ancheta, who releases his own Soulful blend of laidback Jazz and soft Funk music as MNDSGN. That does look pretty unpronounceable at first glance, but you are supposed to say it as “Mind Design”. He is very new to my ears, in all honesty, but he has been doing the rounds for several years, collaborating with Danny Brown for ‘Classic Drug References, Vol. 1’ in 2013, working in the side project of Vivians with The Koreatown Oddity for a self-titled album in 2015, and, last year, he released the gorgeous ‘Forever In Your Sun’ collaborative album with Lionmilk. He is the youngest brother of four in his family, of Filipino descent, and he developed his interests in music when he learned how to play the Organ at a young age, before his older brother introduced him to Hip-Hop music and beat production. If you’re a fan of Thundercat or Toro Y Moi, you’d love this. Check out ‘Hope You’re Doin’ Better’ below.

To gain your interest further, Stones Throw Records’ description of ‘Rare Pleasure’ reads like: “Inspired by soundtrack music, Samba, Exotica and 70’s/80’s library records, Rare Pleasure is intensely intimate, sourcing lyrics from MNDSGN’s family and interpersonal experiences, and reflective of the world at large”, and the new LP features guest appearances from Anna Wise, Kiefer, Carlos Niño, Devin Morison and more, who all contribute precisely to Ancheta’s mellow sonic soundboard. The title more or less tells you all that you need to know about the track, with Ancheta singing about the severed bonds of friendships when circumstances of life naturally change, and how distance or disagreement plays a role in the cycle of human nature. Lyrics like “Going through the motions like that” and “You know you’ve got a friend whenever you need one” make his intentions clear, while Anchetta delivers these vocals with a familial warmth and the musical equivalent of a polite smile, bolstered by some mid-tempo keyboard riffs and some light influence from 1970’s Funk that plays out like George Clinton has just gradually slowed down to a crawl at one of his Parliament and Funkadelic parties. The soulful grooves are quite cerebral in pace, mellow in tempo and they are given a more airy weight, but the reverberated Synth patterns and the clear Neo-Jazz production, created by some gently pulsating Drum melodies and some tight Brass samples, feel rhythmic enough to get a funky groove going. It’s not a dance track by any means, but it feels very soothing, and these softly catchy melodies allow the timed duration of the track to slowly dissipate away as you tune in to the thick basslines, simply relaxing your ear-drums and conveying some very hypnotic effects in the process. The dreamy vocals call back to Frank Ocean at his most haziest, and the soothing guitar melodies reminds me of late J Dilla, while some child-like qualities carry the basic themes of the songwriting to a more compelling level. This is a truly excellent lead single from a fantastic new album, which has been on regular rotation among my lists and my libraries for the past crop of weeks, and I would highly recommend streaming the full record the whole way through for more. ‘Slowdance’ is another top-notch single with a similar, but more flirtatious, tone to it. A very well-arranged new release that is impossible not for me to recommend. Bravo.

Pictured: MNDSGN (Ringgo Ancheta) in a photoshoot for ‘Medium Rare’ (2021) (Photo via KRCW.com)

Thank you for your continued support for the blog, and, if you’ve been going through a tough time lately, I hope you’re doin’ better. Please feel free to join me again tomorrow, as we go ‘Way Back’ to late-1960’s Jamaica for our weekly Wednesday throwback, as we revisit one of the most prolific female vocalists of the old-school Jamaican Reggae scene, who released her material on Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label.

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May Bank Holiday Monday Special: Breakestra (feat. Charli 2na, Double K & Soup) – “Family Rap”

May 31, 2021 — Leave a comment

A ‘Family Affair’ to mix up the Funk flavour of your Bank Holiday. Time for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Hit The Floor” (LP) (Released on October 25, 2005) (via Ubiquity Records)

Good Afternoon to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – wishing you a healthy, happy Bank Holiday Monday! It’s time for today’s track, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Family Rap’ is a Funk track from 2005, and so it’s pretty niche. It also doesn’t really fit the timeframe of the pre-2000’s ‘Way Back Wednesday’ or the Emo phase theme of ‘Scuzz Sundays’, and so it’s something that’s nice and different to revisit on a bright day such as this. ‘Family Rap’ comes from Miles Tackett’s Breakestra music ensemble that started out as an ensemble playing live covers of Funk, Soul and Jazz breaks to the style of the pre-sampling 70’s. Since then, Breakestra has worked with a huge variety of different guests – such as the late DJ Dusk, Jurassic 5 rapper Charli 2na and the Soul vocalist Afrodeyte. ‘Family Rap’ was the promotional single taken from 2005’s ‘Hit The Floor’, which was their first full-length album, which they put out through Ubiquity Records in 2005. It was their first record to feature entirely original recordings of tracks that fused elements of Hip-Hop, Funk and Soul Fusion. It comes highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a good groove or have enjoyed Tackett’s live shows, along with the two ‘The Live Mix’ parts of LP releases which Breakestra released prior to this one. It’s time to kick back, relax – and simply ‘Hit The Floor’ with ‘Family Rap’ down below.

“While Hip-Hop DJ/medley inspired covers are the foundation of Breakestra, it is only natural we’d want to express our own soulful proclamations”, is what Miles Tackett posted on Bandcamp to explain the project’s transformation from a live covers band into one producing their own material for a new transition in 2005, adding “I’ve been releasing original Funk cuts before putting out The Live Mix, Part 2. The first Breakestra single was an original song called ‘Getcho Soul Togetha”, so this album is really just a part of the natural flow”, he added to the press statement. ‘Family Rap’ feels like a solid fit for the size and lively atmosphere of one of Breakestra’s critically acclaimed live shows, as lengthy Trumpet sequences and a shimmering bass groove rolls the Hip-Hop essence along. The rap vocals are pretty tricky to keep up with, adding an increasingly quick tempo to the clattering Drum instrumentation and the Swing-laden Saxophone melodies. There’s a particularly nice section of Tinny drums towards the middle stretch, before the second half of the track adds a more percussive breakbeat to the stylistic Funk revivalism. The track manages to feel rather old and classical in it’s approach to 60’s Soul and 70’s Jazz, with a healthy dose of Rap vocals that reminds me of the music that A Tribe Called Quest or De La Soul used to make in the development of West Coast Hip-Hop. Vocally, Charli 2na & Double K bring some forceful rapping to the mix, as the lyrics take us through an idyllic route of “The City of Angels”. There’s nothing that striking to the vocals, but it accompanies the dance-oriented rhythms nicely and it adds a melodic attitude to the fray. Overall, it’s a relentless barrage of old-school Funk and DLO3-esque Jazz sequences that conjure up pictures of Booker T & The MG’s or Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, and a nice way to keep Funk music going until the likes of Thundercat arrived during the 2010’s.

Pictured: Miles Tackett, Davey Chegwidden, Mixmaster Wolf, Todd Simon & Carlos Guaico (2015) (via PR)

That’s it for now – I hope that you enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday Monday! Join me back here tomorrow for some brand new music, as we delve deep into the brilliant new track from Sheffield’s finest experimental pop project. You may know her from her time as the drummer and occasional vocalist or guitarist of the Slow Club duo. She also went on to feature on vocals for Django Django’s ‘Surface To Air’, which appeared on that band’s third studio album, ‘Marble Skies’. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

New Album Release Friday: St. Vincent – “The Melting Of The Sun”

May 14, 2021 — Leave a comment

Big Daddy Cool is finally home for his dollop of Daddie’s Ketchup. It’s new post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Daddy’s Home” (LP) (Released on May 14, 2021) (via Loma Vista Recordings)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for you to read your daily track on the blog, as per usual, and that’s because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! You could say I’ve gone for the obvious choice for our pseudo Album Of The Week choice this time – but that doesn’t mean it’s not the right one. ‘Daddy’s Home’ is the sixth album to come from St. Vincent – also known as Oklahoman Singer-Songwriter Annie Clark – who has continually established herself as a modern icon of Alternative music, including a win for ‘Best Alternative Album’ at the Grammy’s in 2015 that, rather shockingly, made her the first solo female artist to win in that category in two decades. It’s the long-awaited follow-up to 2017’s ‘Masseducation’, a record which continued to cement her as a highly valued talent, and it once again sees her co-producing it with Jack Antonoff, who worked with Clark on her prior release. Other than St. Vincent – this week, the actually-rather-good Jorja Smith provides some competition with her in the charts, mid-90’s Trip-Hop/Soul staples Morcheeba are back for another go-around which I might actually check out, The Black Keys are back for another timely summer release of theirs (I know my Uncle is a huge fan of them), and rapper J. Cole drops his swiftly announced latest. I’ve certainly been on the bandwagon for the hype towards Annie Clark’s latest, and we took an in-depth look into her work as part of our International Women’s Day post on the blog a few months ago. She appeared on ‘Saturday Night Live’ to perform ‘The Melting Of The Sun’ – a sampler for the LP – Check it out below.

It’s been well-documented in the press campaign for ‘Daddy’s Home’ that St. Vincent was inspired to create her latest body of work by the events of her father’s release from prison two years ago, for white-collar crime, as well as his Vinyl collection that she grew up hearing in the 1970’s, as Clark teased to NME, “One of the things about ‘Daddy’s Home’ is that there is a literal and autobiographical element to it, but also, I’m daddy now”, adding, “It’s hard for me to parcel out what is what. I just make the world. I don’t think too much about compartmentalizing it”, when referring to the New York City aesthetics of the early 1970’s that she built up the visual groundwork for her new record around. Clark is very much a visual artist, and she’s known for playing around with her image in subsequent releases, a trend that feels contextualized through her parallels to Prince and her Bowie-like reinvention on tracks like ‘The Melting Of The Sun’. It has a title which implies a chilled out and blissful tone. It’s a psychedelic wonder – with distorted vocals that stand out. Lyrically, she references cultural figures like Marilyn Monroe and Joni Mitchell, as she pays homage to female creatives who fought in a hostile or challenging environment, ultimately achieving some success by respecting their own core principles, despite meeting grizzly ends, with the sour in the sweetness being depicted in Clark’s song by trippy effects and long harmonies. The instrumentation blends soulful backing vocals and subdued Piano work with curved, warping Synth sequences and slow Electronic melodies that give the track a crooked, experimental feel. Overall, a kaleidoscopic and dream-like atmosphere is created, one which balances the nightmarish subtleties of the quiet, yet tense String sections and the deliberately perfectionist Drum beats that reveal a mysteriously blissful, yet relaxed angle to the narrative that Clark is continually shaping to meet her own ends of her artistry. There’s an excellent closing stretch to the single, and it feels paced out naturally, where the vintage Gospel influences begin to really shine through and the shout-out’s to her female icons finally comes across in a more celebratory light. I think it’s slightly stronger than her previous single – ‘Play Your Way In Pain’ – in the ways that it feels complex – yet human, and the discussions of female experience in the Golden age of the 70’s and the very different sound to the ‘Indie’ capabilities of her peers continue to single her out as a true artist of her craft. You can tell very easily from her live SNL performance that she loves embodying a character, and I can see many parallels between Clark and the likes of Kate Bush or Bjork in the ways that Clark simply makes music to express an honest creativity, and is never afraid to experiment with her musicality or her image to achieve her goals. It’s beautifully tireless, and I have nothing but positive things to say about Clark and her work at this point in her career. Sumptuous to a tee.

Pictured: St. Vincent at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards (2020) (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

As aforementioned, St. Vincent was the featured artist of our International Women’s Day celebration post previously on the blog for this year, and if you missed the boat on that piece, why not take a minute to enjoy it? Follow the link here to read it: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/03/08/international-womens-day-2021-special-st-vincent-digital-witness-2014/

Pictured: Cover Art for “St. Vincent” (LP) (Released on Feb 24th, 2014) (via Loma Vista Recordings)

That’s enough rave reviewing for one day! If you want more content, however, meet me back here tomorrow for an in-depth introduction to a duo of Chicago funky house producers who have known each other since the age of three, a nostalgic realization of childhood that feels reflected very well in their debut LP, which was released a few weeks ago on the Foreign Family Collective label. 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: Fimber Bravo – “Hiyah Man”

April 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

The African experimenter proving he’s not to be just a flash in the Pan. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Lunar Tredd” (Released on March 19th, 2021) (via Moshi Moshi Records)

Good Morning to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m going to try to lift your spirits with another daily entry on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Currently based in South London, Fimber Bravo is a Trinidad-born composer and producer with his origins set as a Steel Plan player and founder of the Twentieth Century Steel Band. Bravo’s been around since the 70’s, and his music has been sampled in plenty of modern Hip-Hop records, such as tracks from Doug E. Fresh, Soul II Soul, and even Jennifer Lopez, of all people. He has also built a following around his unique collaborations with Western artists, such as the likes of Blur, Morcheeba and also Hot Chip. Hearing ‘Hiyah Man’ being supported on the A-list rotation of BBC Radio 6 Music was my first introduction to his work, and the track is the latest single from his new album, ‘Lunar Tredd’, which is only just over a month old now, and is the follow-up LP to his critically-acclaimed 2013 release, ‘Con-Fusion’ (Do you see what he did there?), releasing on Moshi Moshi Records. You may not have heard anything like it before. Let’s take a listen to it below.

Bravo has been establishing himself as a collaborative creator in the gaps since the years between his solo LP releases and his desire to produce another solo recording came about from the inspiration of the Black Lives Matter protests. When releasing ‘Hiyah Man’, he wrote: “Songs come to you in different ways, Hiyah Man was like a voice from my ancestors guiding me and giving me the power for a deeper celebration of the Pan with percussive rhythms that inspired us all to improvise a live first take in one go”, in his press release, concluding “We all felt so high on it” while referring to his free-spirited practices. Although I can’t claim to know everything regarding the instruments and deeper production of the track, I still think that ‘Hiyah Man’ caught my attention because there is a clear influence of dance music. The opening vocal of “A long time ago” is kept short and sweet, but the low-pitched delivery gives it an edge. It gets accentuated by upbeat, melodic Steel Pan beats which build slowly to the introduction of higher drum signatures and new layers of instrumentation. He continues to build a psychedelic dance beat and a festival setting, as elements of Afrobeat and Prog-Jazz make the cut. A slightly distorted synth beat quietly weaves it’s way through the percussion, and the eclectic bass line comes to the forefront towards the end with more electronic synth beats that have an acidic quality. The tone of the track and it’s mood feels more joyful and celebratory than it’s opening, with lyrical hooks about connecting with your ancestors and modernizing your family’s traditions remaining at the centerpiece of the singing sections. Overall, it’s over six minutes of very colourful and funk-influenced chord progression, with a nicely balanced mix of both African and electronic instrumentation. Although it’s not a track that I’ve repeatedly listened to over time and time again, there’s nothing about it that I can really fault. Despite being quite a newcomer to this style of music, I find it to make me feel refuelled and uplifted. An excellently crafted means of escape.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Con-Fusion” (LP) (Released in January, 2013) (via Moshi Moshi Records)

That’s all for now – But feel free to join me again tomorrow for a new entry in our weekly “Way Back Wednesdays” blog feature, where we revisit the sounds of the past that have influenced the present, or a look at an absurd rarity that shall not be left as forgotten. The former is the case this week, as we recover a beloved single from the Gold-certified debut album of an East Coast Hip-Hop pioneer who serves time as the associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine and the co-founder of Mass Appeal 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: Bullion – “Thirty Two”

February 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

A Bullion of silver – let’s see if this music is worth it’s weight in gold! New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Heaven Is Over” (Released on September 25, 2020) (via Jagjaguwar Records)

Good Afternoon – I’ve just seen the Royal Rumble, and that means it’s time for me to get typing up 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! We’re kicking off the new month with a familiar face to the blog – and one of the releases that you might have missed in 2020. We’ve covered Bullion’s work once before – and this is the electronic music alias for NTS Radio host Nathan Jenkins, who largely self-produces his own material from his studio in West London. The follow up to the “We Had A Good Time” EP, which released at the very beginning of last year, was the “Heaven Is Over” EP, a little release that I would really recommend for it’s subversive, Warp Records-esque production tools. Under his pseudonym, Jenkins has released a multitude of work for the Young Turks, R&S, The Trilogy Tapes and Jagjaguwar Records companies. During his time-frame, Jenkins has also established himself in the European dance scene, where he’s lived in Lisbon, Portugal for a number of years. My eyes were really drawn to this beautiful fan-made video to his track, “Thirty Two”, which was uploaded onto YouTube last October by TRUTH CRAB, with the Japenese anime’ visuals being taken from Ai Monogatari’s 90’s mini-series, “9 Love Stories”. Let’s take the beauty in below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF7E5nDPsXc

“Thirty Two” was, indeed, taken from the “Heaven Is Over” EP from Bullion – which got it’s digital release last September, and a physical 12″ vinyl release followed that December. I’d say it would have made for a brilliant Stocking filler at yuletide time – and the five-track EP was also released as a part of the “Friends Of” project – which was launched, then, as a joint initiative between the Jagjaguwar Records, Secretly Canadian and Dead Oceans label to provide financial support for independent artists affected by the difficulties of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Jenkins also kept himself busy throughout the year by producing Westerman’s debut solo album, “Your Hero Is Not Dead”, along with collaborating with Sampha and Talking Heads’ David Byrne. Even though “Thirty Two” was never officially released as a single, I think it’s still a solid reflection of the 80’s euphemisms and the self–quoted “Pop, Not Slop” attitudes that Jenkins brings to the table. Some might find the lack of any vocals to turn them away, but we’re instead treated to a richly detailed atmosphere that evokes a nostalgic, child-like emotion that would be fairly difficult to replicate with real words. The odd hum, or two, from Jenkins is enough to create a Shoegazed, dream-like backing track to the instrumental sounds. Speaking of those, we get a more electronic style of sound than some of the more piano-based compositions you would find on the EP, with shuffling drum beats and slightly grooving guitar licks evoking a gently propelling sound, while 80’s New Wave-inspired synth lines glide slowly beneath the organic instrumentation to blend these soft instrumentals with a more child-like ambience. It reminds me slightly of Boards Of Canada – with toy Organ chords and mid-tempo Synth lines creating a lightly psychedelic haze to the overall sound. Together, these soft instrumentals gently ascend in tempo, while the odd rumble of bass brings the celestial Synths back down to Earth. I know that some listeners really don’t like the lack of vocals in their music, but I really liked this little release. “Thirty Two” feels very relaxed and quite child-like, but there’s still a light melancholy to the sound with it’s mid-tempo pacing and the push-and-pull bassline. Overall, it is a very nicely laid out little track, and the possible flaws are easy to shake.

Pictured: Bullion (a.k.a. Nathan Jenkins) in a photoshoot for his NTS Radio Show (2017) (via NTS)

If you liked “Thirty Two”, I get the feeling that you will also like the title track from Jenkins’ “We Had A Good Time” EP release last February. Check it out right here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/27/todays-track-bullion-we-had-a-good-time/

Pictured: Cover Art for “We Had A Good Time” (Released on February 28, 2020) (via DEEK Recordings)

That’s all I’ve got to share with you today – and so I’m going to move on with my shorter working day. Join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at one of my favourite singles in quite a long time, and this next one is currently really blowing up online with the 6Music crowd of listeners. The track comes from a London-based, female-led Post-Punk group who have recently signed up to the well-known 4AD indie music label, and they were inspired to write and perform their own music by bands including The Feelies, The Necessaries, Pylon and even The B-52’s of wide “Love Shack” fame. 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/

Way Back Wednesdays: Jimmy Campbell – “Half Baked”

January 27, 2021 — 2 Comments

I shouldn’t think this 70’s classic suffers from a case of Soggy Bottom. New post time!

Pictured: Jimmy Campbell with his trusty guitar (Date unknown) (Photo via DakoSuede/Last.fm)

Good Morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to type up about your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to get writing up about a different piece of music every day! Off the back of my bumper list of my own Top 25 Best Albums Of 2020 (Which you should totally check out on the homepage) – it is time for us to go Way Back, and far before my time, for this week’s Way Back Wednesdays track. On Instagram, I recently saw a video of popular US Art-Pop singer-songwriter Angel Olsen describing the musicality of Jimmy Campbell’s “Half Baked” as one of the most influential tracks to her in the viral interview with Pitchfork, and I thought it would be an excellent choice for our weekly feature. Jimmy Campbell was a singer-songwriter, producer and guitarist from Liverpool who was around mainly during the 1970’s and the early 1980’s. He was a member of the Merseybeat groups The Kirkby’s, The 23rd Turnoff and Rockin’ Horse, before going on to produce three solo album releases. Originally, Campbell started off with more acoustic-based, indie folk music, before going on to find his feet in the Psych-Rock and Prog-Rock genres, and he loved his Funk-Rock too. Sadly, Campbell is no longer with us because he sadly passed away in 2007. Fortunately, The Guardian included his compilation album, “The Dream Of Michelangelo”, in it’s list of “1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die”, so justice was served. Let’s take a listen to “Half-Baked” below.

“Half-Baked” was the title track from Campbell’s second solo LP, which saw the light of day in 1970. Although I did not exist at the time, and neither did my parents, for that matter, my research still indicates that Campbell is a popular commodity with the die-hard modern record collectors, and he was described as “The era’s lost songwriter” by Bob Stanley, of The Times, before going on to record tracks that had later been covered by Cliff Richard, Billy Fury and The Swinging Blue Jeans. “Half-Baked” starts off as an acoustic Chamber-Folk piece, as Campbell creates a somber tone by singing “If I’d a known what would happen/I would have stayed in bed/But you know how it is, when you get something stuck in your head” as his light guitar strums begin to introduce a mid-tempo Violin melody to the fray, while the lyrics bleakly touch on depression. It isn’t long, however, until the drum beat kicks in, and we get a riotous guitar solo that evokes the Hendrix-like blues of the 1960’s. The chorus of “Half-Baked, I wasn’t ready but I couldn’t wait” remains upbeat as the guitars peak. Yet, the pace soon changes again, as we go back to the Chamber-Folk of the opening as Campbell sings about heartbreak. It soon changes again, and back again, and the track dips into Funk grooves by the end, while the same Blues-ish guitar riffs and the somber, classical instrumentation pushes and pulls the mood forward and back again. The sound is continually renewing, yet we get a fairly psychotic crescendo of Woodwinds and ear-grating strings. Campbell does a good job of keeping things cohesive enough, with the emerge-and-retreat template of the odd Chamber-Folk and Psych-Funk combination selling a narrative of mental health and emotional renewal, even though the tense String ballad at the end feels a little abrupt. Although it may have it’s inconsistencies, Jimmy clearly has a talent for songwriting, as he pairs the upbeat and somber tones of the lyrics in ways that feel drawing and expansive. Although the pacing may be a little ‘undercooked’ for me, the fresh songwriting makes up for it in the excitement, yet fragility, of the dynamics in storytelling. A genre-breaking single from an artist who deserves to be remembered.

Pictured: Jimmy Campbell in an “On A Monday” PR shoot in the 60’s/70’s (Photo via Pinterest.com)

I have no further discussion in store for you today – but please feel free to join me again tomorrow, when I’m going to share some brand new music for you. It’s a good old “Who Knew” affair – as we take an in-depth listen to the new album project from a US multi-instrumentalist and composer who was raised in New Jersey, and he is the co-founder of folk band The Lumineers, who scored an international chart hit with “Ho Hey” in 2012. 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: Raf Rundell – “Monsterpiece”

January 19, 2021 — 1 Comment

I hope that you are not afraid of the Monsters living under your bed… New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “O.M. Days” (LP) (Available from April 9th, 2021) (via Heavenly Recordings)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s now time for me to get writing up on the blog about today’s daily track, because it’s always in routine of my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Rest assured, the 2021 album release calendar is filling up, and it’s not too shabby in the process. A recent addition to the crop is “O.M. Days”, the second solo LP to come from the South London-based singer-songwriter Raf Rundell, and this is his first LP recording with the famous Heavenly Recordings label. The album unleashes the beast to the world on Friday 9th April, and it’s his second solo LP, following the release of 2018’s effort “Stop Lying”. Rundell first made his mark on the world as one half of the experimental pop duo ‘The 2 Bears’, along with Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard. It later became ‘The 3 Bears’, due to the inclusion of Metronomy’s Joe Mount. “O.M. Days” explores Disco, Soul, Funk, Latin, New-Wave and Post-Punk influences, and it features guest appearances from Chas Jankel, Lias Saoudi, Teri Walker and Man & The Echo. If you want to see him live, you can hopefully see him play gig dates in Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, London, Brighton and Manchester in support of the new album this May, so fingers crossed those could go ahead in some capacity. Check out his “Monsterpiece” below.

“I tried hard to be Ian Dury, But realised I couldn’t. So, I tried my best in a different way, and here we are”, Raf Rundell jokingly explained as he teased the creative direction of the lead single. He even went so far as to pull in Chad Jankel, the former Ian Dury & The Blockheads musician, to add a neat guitar line into the track, for a dream collaboration. Yet, Rundell still manages to capture the essence of Baxter Dury, Ian’s son, and I’d argue that the “Sports Team-meets-Baxter Dury-meets-Gorillaz” style of the New-Wave crossed Disco-Soul influences paints him in his own light. Lyrics like “Fast vibrations, grooving, when you’re moving, when you’re doing what you love” drift over the top of Balearic synth lines and sun-dipped instrumentation, bolstered by funk-inspired guitar riffs and a lithe, idiosyncratic bassline. The Post-Rock vibes creep in when Rundell cheerfully croons “How fly can you fly/In this world so unforgiving” and “How free can you be/To make a life what you make a living” with a spot of sophistication, above the scatterings of synthetic pop sounds. The instrumentation is suitably varied, with a lengthy Flute chorus entering the fray at about the two-thirds mark, and a drop of strobing synths that add a psychedelic house sound. The harmonic Flute break and the nodding to Electro-Soul is commendable, with a strange sense of ‘Party Anthem’ sound adding a new touch to the rather academic, intellectual pop sound of his influences. Although I think this one is a bit of a “One and done” deal rather than something that stores new elements for you to discover on repeated listens, it also has a distinct and unique sound that feels original. By meshing the New-Wave 70’s together with more contemporary synth sounds, you get the fresh marriage of Soul and Punk. It’s not “Monstrously” bad at all.

Pictured: Raf Rundell in an online interview with The AU Review (2015) (Photo via YouTube.com)

Thank you for reading my latest blog post! We’re going “Way Back” tomorrow for the latest post in our weekly Wednesday feature, where we take an in-depth listen back to music pre-dating the 2000’s – influencing each of the different types of sound that we love today. Tomorrow’s track goes down the Ambient Pop and the Space-Rock route, as we rediscover a late-90’s favourite from a French Prog-Rock duo who produced the soundtrack of the same name for “The Virgin Suicides”, a Sofia Coppola-directed drama film that was released in 1999. 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/