Way Back Wednesdays: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – “The Message”

October 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Message’ (LP) (Released in October, 1992) (via Sugar Hill Records)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and you have got your ears tuned in for yet another daily track on the blog, which suits me because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This is ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ where we revisit the seminal sounds of the past that have been influential for those of the present, and ‘The Message’ – released in 1982 by the New York 5-piece Hip-Hop band Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – certainly fits that bill. As noted in the lyrics, ‘The Message’ was initially written as a reaction to the New York City Transit Strike of 1980 as a more broad examination of inner-class poverty and social injustice. Early 80’s Hip-Hop music was typically characterized as being aimless and too Pop-oriented, but the success of ‘The Message’ was paramount for groups like Public Enemy and KRS-One, and it marked the turning point for Rap music to explore serious content and the Conscious Hip-Hop sub-genre would soon be developed in response by more credible Hip-Hop songwriters than those who were there before. ‘The Message’ went straight to the #8 spot on the UK Singles Chart and it reached #2 in New Zealand, as well as reaching #4 on the US Billboard Hot Black Singles Chart. This is easily one of the most recognizable Hip-Hop recordings of the 1980’s, but its popularity extends beyond popular culture as well. For example, it has been featured in some academic texts such as ‘The Norton Anthology Of African American Literature’, published by Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 1996. Give it a spin below.

Released as the third and final single from the album of the same name by Sugar Hill Records in 1982, ‘The Message’ was a launching ramp for the bragging and boasting of the earlier Hip-Hop sounds to gain more of a soul, and its widespread success led to the band getting inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007. Also, ‘The Message’ was selected by the Library Of Congress to be added to The National Recording Registry for its preservation in 2002. A driving force behind the social commentary of Hip-Hop’s most significant releases, ‘The Message’ lyrically boasts some unflinching observations of lower working class perils like “It’s like a Jungle sometimes/It makes me wonder how I keep from going under” in the hard-boiled chorus, and my favourite verse contains the sequence of “A child is born with no state of mind, Blind to the ways of mankind/God is smiling on you, but he’s frowning too/Because God only knows what you’ll go through” which has also been named as Q-Tip’s favourite rap verse of all time. That verse really steers the sound away from a braggadocio party anthem style and towards a more philosophical nature instead. The instrumentation takes its cues from the Psych-Funk of George Clinton’s bands like Funkadelic and Parliament. The groovy guitar licks and the staccato Synths changed the content of Hip-Hop music forever, and the backdrop is simply catchy. It really helps to make the track feel more memorable on the whole, and Melle Mel mocks the Hip-Hop culture of old by noting “But then you wind up dropping out of high school” after he lists the likes of pickpockets and smugglers as potential role models. Overall, ‘The Message’ had an undeniable ability in attracting those who would not typically listen to Hip-Hop as a genre and the importance of the songwriting deserves its recognition as a pioneer of Hip-Hop’s development, and the themes are all topped off by the end of the video where police stress towards black people becomes present, as the band get arrested for no discernible reason in a brutal end skit. ‘The Message’ not only made history in terms of it’s content, but it was a genuinely great Hip-Hop track.

Pictured: ‘Grandmaster Flash’ Joseph Saddler, ‘Keef Cowboy’ (Keith Wiggins), ‘Melle Mel’ Melvin Glover, ‘The Kidd Creole’ Danny Glover, ‘Scorpio’ Eddie Morris & Rahiem (Date n/a) (Photo via Getty Images)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest throwback post, and I’ll be back tomorrow as we divert our attention from the socially conscious Hip-Hop of the past to the Pub Rock revivalist sounds of the future, coming from a Melbourne 4-piece whose self-titled debut studio LP won “Best Rock Album” at the ARIA Awards of 2019.

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Today’s Track: Solemn Brigham – “Dirty Whip”

September 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘South Sinner Street’ (Released on September 24, 2021) (via Mello Music Group)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke – showered and shattered after my first Cambridge gig (Which you’ll be hearing more about at some point during the week) – and the time has come for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If the face of North Carolina-based lyricist/rapper Solemn Brigham appears to be strikingly familiar to you, then you may already know the chap as one half of the underground rap duo Marlowe, a project that he leads with the producer L’Orange, which, for my money, is one of the most exciting new hip-hop double acts in years. Last year, they released ‘Marlowe 2’ through Mello Music Group, and, this weekend, they will be playing at the Sound City festival in Ipswich. It has also been a restless weekend for Brigham himself, who has just released the new solo album ‘South Sinner Street’. Brigham’s music, as a solo artist, can be heard on Gatorade’s ‘G For Greatness’ campaign, 7 Eleven’s ‘Harmony Korine’ campaign and the soundtrack of NBA 2K22. For Brigham, the new album is an ode to those who carried him to greatness and an exploration of the theme of decay – economically and medically – through the lens of his hometown in Albemarle. He says, “What was once a vibrant area now survives as a reminder that the only thing eternal is change. Trash and debris flood the streets, relics of the many lives lived – each piece with a story to tell” for the album’s description. Take his latest single – ‘Dirty Whip’ – for a ride below.

‘South Sinner Street’ features production work from Marlowe compadre L’Orange, Kuartz (Also known as Katalyst from The Quakers), Frank Drake, The Lasso, Scud One and Krum, who all create some fluid instrumentals for Brigham to bounce off. On ‘Dirty Whip’, Brigham reflects on the illusion of wealth and the power of your roots through the lens of rapping about his Porsche. He says, in a press release, “This song is an ode to someone who carried me and provided for me during tough times”, elaborating, “When I was broke, you helped me find a way, and when I was reckless, you helped to keep me safe. To my Dirty Whip and all dirty whips alike, I’ll always ride for you” in his press notes. Brigham has always struck me as a virtuoso of tone, flipping between playfulness and severity at a skittering ease, and he confides in these strengths once again on ‘Dirty Whip’, delivering a genuinely witty moment when he raps that he didn’t make the basketball team “Cause I’m me first” in the verses. This light sense of humor is counteracted by the dramatic strings of the single’s opening and the Blues-leaning scatterings of Piano arrangements that make up the instrumental bed for the track, a softly cinematic backbeat that gives Brigham plenty of fresh energy to launch his own lyrics, at a frenetic pace, from. On the other hand, Brigham’s vocals feel raw and not very polished, which is different to the more sample-based style of his work as one half of Marlowe. I have also noticed how Brigham spits his bars on top with an equal mix of intimacy and observation in the sense that he raps about how riding in this car brought him joy, but the streets that he rode down had a share of corruption to them, later extending to the themes of poverty and security. Overall, ‘Dirty Whip’ is a nice rap tune that perhaps could have done with a little bit of neatening up when it comes to the lead vocals, but the ideas that he explores lyrically are very intriguing when you read between the lines, and he is very good at manipulating the tone of his words to suit his demands, an aspect of what makes his work as part of Marlowe really entertaining. I would ride down to this.

Pictured: Solemn Brigham (right) with L’Orange (Marlowe) in a ‘Marlowe 2’ PR shoot (2020) (via PR)

As mentioned, I’m a big fan of Marlowe and I would recommend checking them out very much. Why not start with a blog post that I did previously on ‘Future Power Sources’?: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/09/todays-track-marlowe-future-power-sources/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Marlowe 2’ (LP) (Released on August 7th, 2020) (via Mello Music Group)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your continued support for the blog, and I’ll be back for more of the same with ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ tomorrow. We’ll be doing something a little different tomorrow, as we take an in-depth look at a lesser remembered album from an 80’s female pop star who recently got a laugh out loud mention on BBC One’s ‘Ghosts’ and popped up in a Cadbury’s Darkmilk commercial.

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Today’s Track: Swindle (feat. Loyle Carner, Kojey Radical & JNR Williams) – “Lost”

September 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The New World’ (Mixtape) (Available from October 29th, 2021) (via BMG)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come around for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘LOST’ comes to you from the South London-based Grime, Garage and Dubstep producer Swindle – his real name is Cameron Palmer – who first emerged on the UK’s Grime scene with his self-released debut mixtape, ‘The 140 Mixtape’, in 2007. His earliest influences call back to Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis and Bob Marley, and Palmer has a background in Jazz, Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop music. This is because his father was a Blues guitarist who gave Palmer lessons at a young age, and so he has been making his own music – starting from his Bedroom studio – since 2004. Palmer has been known for his fruitful collaborations with other artists in recent years, and he has worked with the likes of Terri Walker, Flowdan and P Money during his career. The trend will continue on his upcoming new album ‘The New World’, which is hitting record store shelves late next month – on October 29th – via BMG. The lead single, ‘LOST’, has been playlisted for BBC Radio 6 Music’s daytime rotation, and it finds Palmer linking with Loyle Carner, Kojey Radical and JNR Williams. Check it out below.

The follow-up to 2019’s ‘No More Normal’, Swindle wrote and recorded ‘The New World’ over the time of just two weeks at Real World Studios in Wiltshire after the lifting of the UK’s national lockdown period in late 2020, with the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic forming the backbone of the album’s themes. The release also features a diverse line-up of guests, including the likes of Greentea Peng, Maverick Sabre, Joel Culpepper and Poppy Ajudha among the collaborative track listing. ‘LOST’ finds Loyle Carner lending his intimate, socially conscious rap style to the first verse, while Kojey Radical contributes his slightly heavier rhythms to the cause. The two have more of a verbal spar in the third verse, delivering some motivational lyrics about finding purpose like “Pinocchio knows no bounds but he’s trying/That brother say he run the jungle but they lying” and “They was trying to make darkness a weapon/I was trying to make darkness a blessing” that duel at times, with the two narrators controlling a mid-tempo journey through some slabs of warm Bass and some stretches of orchestral Brass sections. JNR Williams, meanwhile, keeps the pace flowing with the memorable hook of “Oh, they lost themselves in lying” during the chorus. Swindle’s work behind the decks on production is diverse throughout, as he serves up some snatches of horns that gives Williams a Gospel quality to his voice, and he plays around with understated Bass to provide a sonorous, laconic style to the proceedings. Although it begs the question of “How many people does it take to make a song?” just a tad (You would be suprised, a lot of mainstream Pop tunes have at least 15 writers credited), the sum of all the parts here is certainly worthwhile and that’s all what really matters. A diverse, colourful take on Grime and Dubstep that feels grounded enough by the ‘Jam session’ style of collab vocals, and it sounds fresh.

Pictured: Swindle (Cameron Palmer) at ‘Real World Studios’ (2021) (Photo via TheVinylFactory.com)

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me on the blog today and for showing your support. It is very hard to believe that it’s been almost an entire week since RP Boo made his return and proved that he’s still got it – but here we are. It is ‘New Album Release Fridays’ tomorrow as we divert our attention to the hyped new album release from the drummer Betamax and keyboardist Danalogue from The Comet Is Coming.

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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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New Album Release Fridays: RP Boo – “Haters Increase The Heat”

September 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Established!’ (LP) (Released on September 17th, 2021) (via Planet Mu)

Good Morning to you! You’re reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke and, of course, the time has arrived for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! The cycle of day-to-day life has kept going, and so we’ve reached another ‘New Album Release’ Friday yet again. This week sees new albums from Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, Hot Chip’s frontman Alexis Taylor, New Zealand-Australian soul star Jordan Rakei and “Gothic Blues” singer-songwriter Adia Victoria hitting record store shelves and digital marketplaces. There’s also the highly anticipated new nature-themed LP from Gothenburg crossover folk songwriter Jose González and St. Vincent’s soundtrack release for ‘The Nowhere Inn’ vying for your attention too. However, I wanted to select something more leftfield this week, and that’s ‘Established’ – the new solo LP from Chicago experimental House producer RP Boo – which is out on Planet Mu today. RP Boo is one of the most prominent figures, alongside DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn, in the evolution of the Footwork dance movement from Chicago. Footwork is a style of dance music that has derived from the roots of Chicago House, and incorporated elements of Juke House and Ghetto House along the way, and it quickly found success in the Mid-west region of Chicago, later finding popularity across the state, in the 2010’s. The rhythms typically draw from the sub-bass frequencies of Drum & Bass, the tracks usually feature syncopated samples of Hip-Hop and Future Funk, and the BPM is around 60. Footwork is reliant on the street dance of the same name, performed by the sub-cultural youth of Chicago. As one of the originators of Footwork, RP Boo started making music in the late-90’s with a Roland R-70 drum machine and an Akai S01 digital sampler, and he has since gone on to craft the mixtapes used for the Bud Billiken Parade, which is the largest annual African-American parade in the US. His new LP, ‘Established’ is highly inspired by his early times of creating Footwork music, and he channels the competitive nature of ‘dance battles’ for the release. Check out the single, ‘Haters Increase The Heat’, below.

“I want the listeners to really get close to something beautiful, to enjoy with family and friends”, RP Boo says of the highly experimental new release in a press statement, continuing by telling us about the sample track above, “I was feeling heat that I detected targeting me in the scene and I grab it and tracked it out and that’s what fueled the track”, he says about ‘Haters Increase The Heat’, the new single, where he reflects on his younger days where he developed passion for Paul Johnson’s Disco records from the late-90’s. Built from stabbing synth rhythms, a flickering drum machine pattern and an aggressive, yet fairly moderately paced, bassline. It all feels like a propulsive combination on the whole, with Boo strategically structuring the witty sample flips and the blaring siren-like sounds of the modulated Synth patterns to keep the rhythm feeling thick and fast, but perfectly paced for a high-stakes dance battle. Across the course of the track, the prominent male vocal sample gradually contorts into more of an unfamiliar grunt, while a soft female backing vocal sample feels barely recognizable among the heavy syncopation effects, but it certainly adds some ethereal tones to the mix, with bruising synth pad melodies and frisky keyboard patterns which add a joyful sense of playfulness to the sound. Before too long, we’re left with the musical equivalent of a dizzying game of Jenga, where the stripped-back foundations of alternative House music are contorted to a large extent that nearly combat the repetitive nature of the production, and the vocals strongly come across as an Urban dance battle track that often nearly doubles up as a gentle personal philosophy in the process. From a pure at-home listening standpoint, it is quite a challenging listen as the rhythmic dexterity marries the sample voice and drum machine arrangements to a level that warps each element beyond noticeable recognition, but these fundamental values are what keeps RP Boo feeling as relevant as ever, and it keeps Chicago as one of the finest purveyors of House music, albeit in numerous slightly different forms. As the music continues to evolve, so do the artists.

Pictured: RP Boo (aka Kavain Wayne Space) at a live DJ set (2019) (Photo via Backspin Promotions)

That brings us to the end of the page, and all that’s left for me to do is thank you for checking out the blog today. I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with some more new music, this time coming from a New York-born indie pop singer-songwriter who co-founded the Art Pop trio Chairlift while studying at The University Of Colorado. Now gaining mainstream popularity as a solo artist, she has collaborated with producers and artists including Charli XCX, Blood Orange, SBTRKT and Danny L Harle, and she has written songs for none other than Beyonce and Travis Scott. Not too shabby at all.

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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: Nas – “Moments”

September 11, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Track Listing for ‘King’s Disease II’ (Released on August 6th, 2021) (via Mass Appeal Records)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m going to be putting the ‘Hip’ into the ‘Hop’ on this rather cloudy Saturday morning to up its ante with 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! It’s only been under a year since legendary 90’s rapper Nas won the Grammy Award for ‘Best Rap Album’ with 2020’s ‘King’s Disease’. However, that was more of a ‘legacy Grammy’ if you ask me, and I feel that his new direct continuation of that record – ‘King’s Disease II’ – released a handful of short weeks ago, is a bit better and more representative of such an award. Another victory lap for the famous associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine, and a New York-based musician whose debut album – 1994’s ‘Illmatic’ – has been inducted into the Library Of Congresss National Recording Registry, ‘King’s Disease II’ once again finds the multi platinum-selling entrepreneur bringing the Fontana-born producer Hit Boy on-board with him, and the frequent pair have seemed to become something of a collaboration cheat code in recent years. The new album also features fruitful guest appearances from the likes of Eminem, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Charlie Wilson, EPMD and more. The new record also comes highly recommended from the critics, scoring an excellent 88/100 on review aggregate site Metacritic to indicate “Universal Acclaim” from lots of music publications. Check out the mid-album highlight ‘Moments’ below.

‘King’s Disease II’ was released in early August through Nas’ own label, Mass Appeal Records (of course) and, as well as performing strongly in review sections, this new release marked another commercial milestone for the famous rival of Jay Z, as it went straight to #3 in the US Billboard 200, becoming Nas’ highest charting album in nine years, and its first week sales of 56,000 units outmatched those of its predecessor in his ‘King’s Disease’ string of recent releases last year. An introspective anthem that matches chopped old time Soul samples with a clear, witty backdrop of nostalgic realizations, ‘Moments’ reminds me, in terms of its narrative thread, to recent movies like Disney Pixar’s ‘Soul’ and Amazon Prime’s ‘The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things’, where it feels like a grounded celebration of the little beauties in life, and this really connects with me on a decent personal note because I recently had my sister’s wedding, and that was a ‘Once In A Lifetime’ deal of enjoyment. Lyrics like “We used to all put in and go half on bail money/F**k making it rain now, we makin’ it hail money” harken back to the youthful days and the emerging stages of his career, and reflective sequences like “My whole career I stayed away from features/But I figured its perfect timing to embrace the leaders” are calling cards for the album as Nas speedruns through his personal growth through the decades. The catchy chorus, with quick hooks like “Movin’ in ya first crib or having your first kid/Moments you can’t relive” really hammers the point home with a near equal mixture of accessibility and relatability. I love how these rhymes feel a little clumsy at points, as the straightforward meaning of the track really helps to give them a freestyle flair that charms. Plenty of credit goes to Hit Boy too, who works very hard behind the DJ decks to make everything flow together elegantly. The whimsical mix of laidback Horn sections, the strutting muted drums, the fluttering Glockenspiel melodies and self-satisfied Bass beats feels nicely endearing and complements Nas’ relatively unpolished vocals well to tell the story, and it gives the brief lyrics that may otherwise come across as a bit too slap-dash a well-contained, apt Jazz influence for the backdrop to flourish. He’s perhaps not a brilliant producer on his own, but when he works with Nas, there’s a really coherent chemistry that feels very engaging. It is a bold statement – but this is one of Nas’ best.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Illmatic’ (LP) (Released on April 19th, 1994) (via Columbia Records)

As Nas’ quietly declares in the track that we just heard, he is now considered a legacy artist and so he’s no stranger to making appearances on my blog already. Last year, we took a listen to the lead single ‘Ultra Black’ from the first ‘King’s Disease’ record, which you can still read here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/14/todays-track-nas-feat-hit-boy-ultra-black/. Meanwhile, earlier in the year, we looked back at his culturally significant debut album ‘Illmatic’ with the single ‘It Ain’t Hard To Tell’ for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ – a moment that you can relive from my site here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/21/way-back-wednesdays-nas-it-aint-hard-to-tell/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘King’s Disease’ (LP) (Released on August 21st, 2020) (via Mass Appeal Records)

That brings us to the end of the page for today, and thank you very much for being a part of this particular moment with me! It’s ‘Scuzz Sundays’ tomorrow, and so we’ve nearly reached the part of the week where we take things a little less seriously and either head-bang or cringe to some of the Pop-Punk anthems from the teenage time of our lives. My pick for this week comes from a rather successful Kanas City-bred Post-Grunge band who have sold over seven million albums worldwide. Since 2012, the band’s leading man has been hit with accusations of lip syncing during live shows.

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New Album Release Fridays: Little Simz – “I Love You, I Hate You”

September 3, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ (Released on September 3rd, 2021) (via Age 101)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the rather excited words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for yet another 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! ‘New Album Release Fridays’ returns today, and this week’s array of competitive new offerings includes fresh releases from Drake, Iron Maiden (Just saying), Manic Street Preachers, The Wildhearts, Lauren Alaina, Priya Ragu, LANY and more. However, the biggest release of the week for me certainly comes from Little Simz, who is a female British rapper (of Nigerian ancestry) from Islington, London. I’ve raved on about her multiple times as the future of Hip-Hop music on the blog, and the ‘Drop 6’ EP and the singles lifted so far from her new album ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’, out now on her own label Age 101, have certainly whetted my appetite for some more. The new album is centered around the theme of introversion and how Simz handles a shy, reserved personality in a business driven by the talkative social media influencers and complicated job recruitment processes of the modern times, and so it sounds like an interesting exploration of ideas when you consider that Simz is quite a fast-rising producer whose job is to project her voice to the public at large. This is her fourth full-length LP release, and it is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Grey Area’ in album terms, an LP that won Album Of The Year awards at both the NME Awards and the Ivor Novello Awards following its release. Check out her new single, ‘I Love You, I Hate You’, below.

“Inflo {her co-producer] asked me, “What do you love and what do you hate”, I knew the answer immediately”, Simz says to us of her latest deep-cutting single, adding, “I wanted to just let people know like, yo, I’m actually this way inclined, being this introverted person that has all these crazy thoughts and ideas and theories in my head, and not always feeling like I’m able to express it if it’s not through my art”, to her general press release. If you’re fan of Little Simz, like me, then you may have noticed how the new single is just a little bit more alike to her early stuff because it focuses more on the introspection elements, trading in anthemic experimentation for a more personal quality. Lyrics like “Hard not to carry these feelings even on my best days/Never thought my parent would give me my first heartbreak” expresses her troubled relationship with her mother or father, and these quick bars are recited over the top of a driving Snare drum which forms a well-rounded bassline, and these sequences are interspersed with a darkly soulful male backing vocal that repeats the hook of “I love you, I hate you” at a consistent tempo formed by a sample. The subject matter of the heated vocals flow from hot to cold throughout, and Simz expertly communicates a tense feeling of not being able to live with or without a part of her heritage. The rest of the instrumentation honestly reminded me of The Avalanches because these wistful Horn sections and sprawling String arrangements feel very virtuosic and carefully curated in texture. The harp riffs build some tension for the murkier segments, and the crescendo of Classical instrumentation samples cuts right to the bone, allowing for the uneasy emotions to flourish in the soundscape. I like how Simz is never afraid to shift geers when she needs to, and the track certainly heads in a more unpredictable formula than we may be used to hearing from her. On the whole, this is another solid-as-a-rock showing from Simz, where she delivers her very raw and smartly written lyrics on top of an engaging sample-based backbeat that heads in some creative storytelling. She is an excellent role model for young girls, and she cements that claim with the natural talent that she shows on singles like this.

Pictured: Little Simz in a ‘Drop 6’ Promo Shoot (2020) (Photo Credit: TAMIYM)

Are you a fan of Little Simz? If you haven’t been converted yet and fancy checking out some more like this, why not start with some of the singles that we have previously discussed on the blog here? Check out the excellent ‘Where’s My Lighter?’ featuring Alewya here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/15/little-simz-feat-alewya-wheres-my-lighter/, an go back to where the build for the new album started with ‘Introvert’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/27/todays-track-little-simz-introvert/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Drop 6” (EP) (Released on May 6th, 2020) (via Age 101 Records)

That brings us to the end of the page for another day! Thank you for joining me again today, as always, and I’ll be back tomorrow for some brand new music from an Indie Rock group currently signed to Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union record label. They previously impressed me on the blog with their debut album two years ago and made a pair of appearances on the site, and they’re back with a new album set to release in November. This group is centered around two Brighton-based siblings who originated from the Isle Of Man, and they have embarked upon three US tours. They have hit the road with notable groups such as The Flaming Lips, The Magic Numbers and Wallows.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Lady Saw – “Sycamore Tree”

August 11, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Passion’ (LP) (Released on June 12th, 1997) (via VP Records/CoverMyTunes)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to get typing up on the blog for this week’s ‘Way Back Wednesday’ flashback, as we revisit the seminal sounds of the past that have been influential to the present, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It has become a rather multi-cultural week on the blog so far, and that lovely trend continues with ‘Sycamore Tree’ by Lady Saw, which was released as a single from her 1997 album, ‘Passion’, which reached the #8 spot on the US Billboard Reggae Top Albums Chart. It, therefore, officially became Saw’s first album to chart. Formerly known as ‘The Queen Of Dancehall’, Lady Saw was a Jamaican vocalist and producer whose career has spanned for two decades, and she holds the distinction of being the first black female DJ to be certified as both a Grammy-winning artist and a Platinum-selling artist. In more recent times, Saw converted to Christianity in late 2015 and announced that she would now identify as “Marion Hall”, and she has began a career in writing Gospel music – which Hall has performed at The White House. Revisit ‘Sycamore Tree’ below.

Ever since the peak of her popularity, Hall has been known for her ‘Slack’ performance style that has been controversial to the authorities in Jamaica, a battle that has also influenced Hall to write protest anthems about freedom of speech and double standards between how vulgarity is perceived in music from male and female Jamaican artists. Hall is also known for her socially conscious lyrics, and one of the biggest examples of this trend was her 1996 track, ‘Condom’, a track that warns young girls about the dangers of unprotected heterosexual sex. She has, therefore, never been afraid to speak her mind with her music, and 1997’s ‘Sycamore Tree’ is another decent portrayal of this attitude. The lyrics are about an obstructive woman who will not participate in oral sex with a love interest, and tries to convince him that she is a more honest person than we’re led to believe, with some occasionally lewd lyrics like “Remember, it was under the Sycamore tree” and “The sun stopped shining for me” that discreetly show the cracks of her true intentions. This style of lyrics are recited underneath her famously high-pitched bass that she was known for frequently producing. Her raw vocals continue to reflect upon one of the most contentious musical topics in her country for a number of decades, but the sound maintains a rather joyful and bright personality, with some light, yet classic Dub toasting and shimmering, percussive rhythms, which turns her assessment of Jamaican sex taboos into a more refreshingly wicked, playful affair. A potent and firmly female-focused effort, the Reggae backing beat is rather catchy, with Hall bragging about a ‘false innocence’ with lines that feel fully aware of her sexuality, such as “Mi a gal wi gi yuh all di wickedest ride”, while also proclaiming lyrics like “a nuh everything mi like” in later sections. On the whole, it’s not something that I would usually choose to listen to, since it’s simply not in my typical wheelhouse of favourite genres, so to speak, but I enjoyed a few minutes of the time that I spent with Saw’s song. The vibe is pretty sexual, but joyously defiant and character-oriented. A seminal salute to her free spirit.

Pictured: Lady Saw (aka Marion Hall) performing at The White House (2016) (Photo via Jamaicans.com)

That’s enough of my musical musings for another day, and thank you very much, as always, for reaching the end of the page. I’ll be here to catch up with you once again tomorrow with some more information about, possibly, one of my favourite new albums in recent memory. It is really good, and it takes us to South Korea for some Shoegaze sounds. The young adult artist, however, likes to keep his proverbial cards quite close to his chest. We know very little more than his recording name: Parannoul.

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New Album Release Fridays: Mr. Jukes & Barney Artist (feat. Kofi Stone) – “Check The Pulse”

August 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “The Locket” (LP) (Released on August 6, 2021) (via The Locket Records/Virgin)

Good Afternoon to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s finally time for me to, like always, get typing up for 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! We’ve reached the end of another long working week, and so it’s time to unpack one of the weekend’s biggest new album releases. Kanye West is dominating the headlines this morning for his still unreleased LP, ‘Donda’, which is meant to be released today, with fans making lots of memes in the process. Alternative options come from the likes of Ty Segall, Laura Stephenson, Fredo, Ishmael Ensemble and Nas. However, the new release that I have been pining for is ‘The Locket’, which was originally delayed to August 6th when it was initially set to arrive last month. ‘The Locket’ is a surprising collaborative album between Mr. Jukes, the solo side project of frontman Jack Steadman from Bombay Bicycle Club, and the East London-born MC Barney Artist, who first popped up in 2012 with his ‘BAEP’ EP. The two got together for this joint venture when Steadman stumbled across Barney on Spotify, and he was never forgotten since. The title of the record refers to memories of more cheerful times, “We fill a locket with memories we protect and don’t forget to keep it round your neck”, Jukes & Barney both said. The record has gained positive reviews from critics, with Sean Kerwick of DIYMag.com writing, “A fantastic collection of tunes that encompass everything from bangers to slow jams that leaves you hoping Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist’s schedules continue to align” in their review. Time to ‘Check The Pulse’ below.

“The aim is to bring hope to people after the maddest year”, Barney & Jukes write about ‘The Locket’ in their press release, and they will be bringing this positive energy to stages in Manchester, Brighton, Bristol and London later in the year. ‘Check The Pulse’ brings Kofi Stone, a close friend and frequent collaborator of Barney Artist, to the party, and he told the press, “It was a pleasure to link up with my brother Barney and go back-to-back with him, also, Mr. Jukes is a wizard on production. This one’s got a real nice bounce to it, looking forward to playing it live” in his own statement. It is bouncy indeed, with a East Coast Hip-Hop synergy that calls back to A Tribe Called Quest and The Jungle Brothers to me, since there’s a clear chemistry between Barney and Kofi as they rap fast lyrics to the tuneful sound of a very Soulful sample and a Psych-tinged instrumental beat composed of Vinyl scratches and a crawling bass guitar riff. Lyrics such as “Drillin’ the bars, feelin’ the lyric when I’m spittin’ this fast” respond to music and memory, while lyrics like “Slithering snakes wanna get into your business/Wanna get into your brain” are a reminder to ignore bad influences and those most critical of your work as a creative. It’s got a very feel-good sound, but the relatively mid-tempo pace is very slick and smooth, filling the left-field indie Pop vibes with something more reminiscent of 80’s Boom-Bap rap and sharp rap beats that gleam brightly above the underlying warmth. There’s also not really a full chorus of-sorts, but the samples and the melodic backing vocal harmonies keep the influences sounding engaging. We’ve heard Steadman dabble in sampling a little bit during his time as the leader of Bombay Bicycle Club, but this project gives him the space he wants to fully flex those production muscles. I also want to point out how his smile adds a lot to the performance video. This is a songwriter who clearly loves writing and performing his music with a genuine passion, and his sparkling smile lit up the room in there. He provides a fantastic platform for the solid cohesion between Barney and Kofi to really get across, too, as they fluidly bounce water-tight lyrics seemlessly against one another at a great flow, and with superb chemistry. Overall, I felt that ‘Check The Pulse’ was an utterly joyful listen from the beginning to the end, and it’s a very enjoyable tune that could really brighten up your day in a time where we’re all looking for fun distractions, expertly mixing Jukes’ Indie production with decent Hip-Hop material, and all topped off by the love for the music which the three artists have.

Pictured: Mr Jukes (Jack Steadman) & Barney Artist at CHALK, Brighton (2021) (Photo via PR)

That brings us to the end of another post for the day! Thank you for your support once again, and please feel free to join me again tomorrow for some more brand new music from a big-name artist! Tomorow, we’ll be listening to some brand new music from an Indie Punk 4-piece from Amsterdam who played not one, not two, but THREE performances at Glastonbury in 2019! Signed to Heavenly Recordings, the band have been praised by publications like Brooklyn Vegan, Double J and Rolling Stone. Their debut album ‘Boat’, made it to the top spot of the Independent Album Breakers Chart.

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