Today’s Track: Yves Tumor – “Jackie”

July 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

Not much of an ‘Old Flame’. More of a check-in with a frequent friend. New post time!

Pictured: Yves Tumor in an official photoshoot to promote “Heaven To A Tortured Mind” (2020) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s finally time again for me to get typing up for today’s track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If 2018’s ‘Safe In The Hands Of Love’ and 2020’s ‘Heaven To A Tortured Mind’ were any indication for the future, I’d comfortably write at any point that Yves Tumor – the Florida-born and Italy-based pop experimentalist Sean Bowie – is one of the very most exciting music artists out there in the world, with Tumor’s vast attention to detail in the sound and visuals of their work never going unnoticed. It’s unclear if we’re getting a full-blown album or a new EP from Tumor off the back of this, but I was still thrilled to bits when I saw that ‘Jackie’ had been released as a new single, alongside a psychedelic new video which sees them traversing a dark science fiction forest to chase an old flame. Tumor is also coming off the back of fruitful collaborations with the likes of Kelsey Lu, Moses Boyd and Kelly Moran in recent times, and so they have been keeping really active since landing the No. 2 spot on my ‘Top 25 Best Albums Of 2020’ list that you may recall seeing on the blog last December. Along with releasing ‘Jackie’, Tumor has also announced a 28-date US, UK and European tour for next year, with ‘Jackie’ merch becoming available to buy on their Bandcamp page as well. Pay ‘Jackie’ a visit below.

The enigmatic glam-rock manipulator conjured up the ‘Jackie’ music video with the LA-based creative studio Actual Objects, who have collaborated with the likes of Kanye West, Travis Scott and Musuem Of Modern Art NYC on projects before. They commented, “Their work is always so forward looking, and has always been a major inspiration for us. ‘Jackie’ was a chance for us to dig deep into our tookit and work with some of our most experimental techniques”, on working with Tumor, as the artist themselves keeps characteristically hush-hush about things. Reminiscing and mulling over an obsessive love that has run it’s course, and singing about the upshot from the relationship in purgatory, Tumor works his magic over the top of a punctual filtered kick drum beat. Lines like “When you wake up/Do you think of me?” and “Old flame/We were torn apart right by the sleeve” make his consumption clear, and lines like “These days have been tragic/I ain’t sleeping/I refuse to eat a thing” briefly dip their toes into mental health issues. Despite the overall Glam-Pop influence that gives the off-kilter melodies an upbeat punch, we are left with dark lyrics and a gloomy scene. The beats are fast-paced and melodic, with the push-and-pulling of the overall song structure and the loss of bearings for the heavy basslines giving way to a characteristically precise welding of love-sick Psych Rock. As always for Tumor, it meshes together a lot of different influences in a way which, on paper, shouldn’t work so well. However, there’s huge attention to detail that gives the pacing a certain flow, and there’s an emotive core deep down in the songwriting and the delivery that binds these explorations of Glam-Rock, Avant-Rock and Brit-Pop together. Prince would certainly be a fan, with the damaged ballad featuring well-crafted guitar solos and an electrifying, near-fantastical aesthetic that gives the costumes and the music video some depth. It’s certainly rewarding of repeated listens too, as there’s a lot going on here, and so you can slowly start to decipher each section of the track pretty easily, although the generally catchy song structure should allow more casual listeners to grasp the gist of it too, because it’s also just a solid Glam-Pop revivalist anthem. All in all, there is no way of predicting where Tumor is heading next. That’s the beauty of it.

Pictured: Yves Tumor in a PR shoot to promote “Serpent Music” (2016) (Photo Credit: Daniel Sannwald)

My first introduction to Yves Tumor was the cool single ‘Gospel For A New Century’ from last year, and so, if you’re new to Yves Tumor, it may also be a good place for you to start. You can find out what I originally had to say about the 2020 single here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/28/todays-track-yves-tumor-gospel-for-a-new-century/

Pictured: Vinyl Copy of ‘Heaven To A Tortured Mind’ (Released on April 3rd, 2020) (via Warp Records)

Thank you for reaching the end of the page today, and please feel free to check back in with me again tomorrow for a new entry in our ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ library as we delve back into a well-known tune from a legendary late 1980’s and early 1990’s Baggy/Madchester Movement indie rock group who were famously signed to Mute Records, and were known for using Organs and distorted guitars to take influence from 70’s Psych-Rock.

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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/

Way Back Wednesdays: Gilberto Gil – “Aquele Abraço”

May 12, 2021 — Leave a comment

“Gil is Tropicalia’s rude essence” – Sasha Frere-Jones, 2020. Finally, let’s go Way Back!

Pictured: Gilberto Gil in Valencia, Spain (2021) (Photo by Gérard Giaume/Berklee College Of Music)

Good Morning to you! It’s a beautifal day outside, and so I’m here to sweeten it up with your daily track on the blog, as it’s still my day-to-day pleasure. First of all, my apologies for disappearing from the face of the Earth for the last couple of days. I ended up getting a small extension for my Masters work because my project wasn’t quite ready yet, and it’s been a busy road of traffic up in the head lately. I’m perfectly fine now, so don’t you worry. I’ve always set up this blog as a place of pleasure and enjoyment, and so I never wanted for it to feel like an obligation or a chore, so I just needed a minute to focus on the stress personally and the tasks at hand. It’s all good!

With those modules submitted, let me introduce you to our pick for today. For my project, I was researching ‘World Music’ and whether this term holds discriminatory context. One of the genres that I explored was Tropicalia, a movement that saw it’s artists – the likes of Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso and Bahian graphic designer Rogerio Duarte, express political protest through eclectic music styles and promote messages of defiance against the ruling military coup which took over Brazil in 1964. It was a moment, rather than a movement, with the protests winding down from around 1968 onwards. It was a very busy time for the likes of Gilberto Gil, however, who was also very much a key creative figure in the revolution. Gil and Veloso were threats to the military. They were imprisoned for two months, then deported, moving to London for a little bit. He returned to Bahia in 1972, and he’s continued to work as a musician, politician and environmental advocate. He also served as Brazil’s Minister Of Culture between 2003 to 2008. “Aquele Abraço” was issued in 1969 by Universal, but Gil would perform the track during marching protests during the time of Tropicalia. The title roughly translates to “The Hug” in English. Let’s reflect on the busy time for Gil below.

‘Aquele Abraço’ was written during a time of house arrest, where Gil developed the melodies and lyrics, before putting together the instrumentation for it’s recording. It became a major hit in the charts of Brazil during 1969, and it was performed at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games by Marisa Monte and Seu Jorge of the Bossa Nova corporation, MPB. Reaching iconic status in his home turf, Gil’s lyrics invoke themes of neighborhoods, Samba schools, national landmarks, and the popular musicians of Rio De Janeiro. I’m not entirely familiar with how the music was made, since it was well before my time, and I cannot understand the actual lyrics. However, it’s clear enough that it’s Latin-flavored Samba with a gentle guitar rhythm. The rest of the instrumentation is very percussive, with shuffling Maraca beats and a shimmering Cuica rhythm that creates a sultry, sentimental and celebratory tone. Gil whoops and hollers his way through soft, lounge Jazz influences and psychedelically driven drum parts that get some effects going within the backdrop. It mostly feels like a love letter to his nationality and his peers, and expresses a sound that overall feels ‘exotic’ or very ‘distant’ in it’s experimentation – where sentiments of Rock ‘N’ Roll and the use of electric guitars make the rhythms feel progressive for the time. On the whole, it’s an impressive combination of relaxed and joyful, and it was too edgy to be seen as lawful by the government. That’s a pretty big thing. I have probably got a different stance on it as a Western listener with a white British ethnicity compared to the purpose of the track for the society it was aimed at, and it’s worth considering that I’m only reviewing it in hindsight. However, it’s still evident that Gil is music at it’s core – expressing to the public of Brazil that arts and culture had a role in developing Brazil as a nation during his commercial peak and soaring to the heights of Tropicalia.

Pictured: Gilberto Gil in a PR image for NN North Sea Jazz Festival on July 12, 2019 (Photo via NSJ)

That’s all for now! Join me again tomorrow as we pick up right where we left off with some brand new music. Tomorrow’s talent is a gender fluid rapper, producer and visual street artist who is also the founder of the NiNE8 Collective in London, and they share an eerily similar stage name to a certain under-rated star who scored a huge UK and US hit with ‘Bulletproof’ in 2007. 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: Field Music – “Orion From The Street”

May 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

A spherical far cry from the time where we thought the Earth was flat. New post time!

Pictured: Peter & David Brewis (Vocals/Synths/Keys/Guitars) (2021) (Photo by Memphis Industries)

Good Afternoon to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and, as you’ve likely realized already by now, it’s time for your daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A now-pair of London Art Rocker veterans, Field Music have released nine albums in the last 16 years, scoring a Mercury Prize nomination and three UK Albums Chart top 40 entries in that time. Members of Maximo Park and The Futureheads have been featured as a part of their line-up over the last few decades, but the core members are Sunderland brothers David & Peter Brewis. Their latest release is ‘Flat White Moon’, which has gained critical acclaim since getting released last weekend on Memphis Industries. There’s usually a two-year gap to their cycle, on the exact day of their prior album, but ‘Flat White Moon’ is an outlier of that Easter Egg because we only heard from them last year on ‘Making A New World’, a concept album about World War 1 with eerie parallels to the time. Named after a constellation of stars, ‘Orion From The Sun’ was the lead single of the release, which was seemingly inspired by the 70’s Glam Pop of David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and Talking Heads. It’s fair to say that professor Brian Cox would be having a ‘Field Day’ with this. Check out the brilliant music video below.

Writing new material quicker than usual with the release of ‘Orion From The Street’, Peter Brewis writes: “It’s full of accidental quotes and allusions – the first couple of lines I overheard in a Cary Grant documentary, but they sum up the whole song – how intense impressions of love, hate, grief and guilt can be an almost hallucinatory experience” in Field Music’s recent press statements after penning that he wrote the promotional tune in a daze. Kicking off with a pack of twinkling keyboard melodies that gets a low-key groove of dramatic synths and colourful guitar riffs shimmering from that point onwards, permeating with a high radiance during the chorus, we get a propulsive and buoyant musing on stargazing and astronomy with uptight bass rhythms and wholly positive electronic tones in the familiar, yet nostalgic, Field Music mould. The vocals complement the brief pokings at Prog-Funk nicely, with Brewis imagining a world where “Death is but a dream” and “Memories that fall like rain are spirited away” over a wistful, psych-hinting background. It’s refreshing to hear a track which isn’t really addressing heavy and modern topics like race, femininity or LGBT circles, as the lyrics ponder gentle philosophy and cosmic themes instead with a vivid synth palette. I feel that it makes for a very nice change from the typical “indie” sound of the 2020’s, as the vocals signal for a means of escape from reality. A vivid set of instrumentation and cascading music production make proceedings feel fresh and the hooks are quite memorable. The odd guitar licks and the cymbal crashes give it an off-kilter flair, and a nice Horn section provides a fluttering highlight towards the middle. Overall, I like it because it’s just a pretty song that does something different to it’s peer contemporaries. While the meaning isn’t particularly definable, it provides an intricate moment for you to stop and nod your head along to. The hard effort clearly shows, with a solid update on the Alternative Rock sound of the mid-2010’s, as a retro nuance adds more depth to the package than it may first appear on the Lunar surface.

Pictured: Cover Art for “Flat White Moon” (LP) (Released on April 23, 2021) (via Memphis Industries)

That’s all for today, but we’re going back to the basics on the blog tomorrow, as we delve into one of the weekend’s biggest new album releases. This week’s pick marks the much-anticipated release of the debut album from Brighton’s promising Post-Punk prodigies who are one of Warp Records latest signings and appeared on the Independent Venue Week documentary ‘On The Road’ where they were seen playing a dustbin lid with an asparagus! 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: Viagra Boys – “Girls and Boys”

April 19, 2021 — Leave a comment

A billboard said Niagra Falls is the tallest waterfall – Falls advertising. New post time!

Pictured: Sebastian Murphy, Benjamin Valle, Oskar Carls, Henrik Hockert, Tor Sjoden and Elias Jungqvist (aka Viagra Boys) at The Great Escape in Brighton, Sussex (2019) (Photo via DIYMag.com)

Good Morning to you! Jacob Braybrooke here, and I’m kicking off the new week with another daily entry on the blog, as always, because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Girls & Boys’ is a Swedish cocktail of riotous Post-Punk and harsh Prog-Jazz from the ludicrously witty band Viagra Boys, who formed in Stockholm in 2015, as a collective of members originally from other local bands including Neu-Ronz, Les Big Byrd, Pig Eyes, Nine and Nitad from the local-ish music scene. They released their debut album, ‘Street Worms’ to decent reviews and cult success in 2018, with praise being directed towards the use of black comedy and satire within their lyrics. This long-player earned them IMPALA’s “Album Of The Year Award” in 2019. Fast forward to 2021, and the second full-length effort, ‘Welfare Jazz’, has arrived via their own label, YEAR0001. Lately, the band have also confirmed that a third album is on the way, telling us that it was largely self-produced and that it has already been recorded, according to the bassist Henrik ‘Benke’ Höckert. You can watch a live ‘Shrimp Session’ Viagra Boys recorded for the track, ‘Girls & Boys’, for free on their YouTube channel, but, for now, let’s take a listen to the studio version below.

‘Girls & Boys’ was co-produced by Matt Sweeney (Run The Jewels, Cat Power) and Justin & Jeremiah Raisen (Kim Gordon, Sky Ferreira), with additional work from past collaborators Pelle Gunnerfeldt & Daniel “Fagge” Fagerström (The Knife, The Hives), and you can also catch another track which sees Viagra Boys enlist the aid of Amy Taylor from Amyl & The Sniffers on their new record, entitled ‘In Spite Of Ourselves’, a cover version of the track of the same title by late-great John Prine released in 1999. ‘Girls & Boys’, however, is not a cover version of Blur’s classic, but a surreal and silly, Saxophone-smattered tour of outdated gender roles. It’s also ludicrously silly too, with a call-and-response format that sees a distorted voice sing “Drugs” and “Girls” as vocalist Sebastien Murphy pairs them up with one-liners like “The only way I can boogie down” and “They always wanna tie me down”. “Shrimps” is my favourite, and I believe this is an in-joke the band have with their fans, although I’m not familiar enough with the band to really say. I think the lack of context gives it a lick of abstract art themes, and makes these crazy hooks sound all the more random. The Brass instrumentation is abrasive and incendiary, as the clashing Post-Rock guitar riffs create a strange Disco beat of-sorts. The lyrics are all about partying at their most basic, with Murphy wailing about inability to socially connect, while the strength of the distorted guitar melodies and the overly aggressive qualities of the Jazz elements hint towards something that feels more psychotic and briefly unsettling. Whether this absurdist Noise-Punk disco roller is satirical or silliness is left quite ambiguous, but it certainly isn’t a particularly feel-good single by traditional means, despite the oddly danceable melodicism of the pace. Pure unadulterated mayhem. Chaotically sublime.

Pictured: Physical CD copy of ‘Welfare Jazz’ (LP) (Released on January 29th, 2021) (via YEAR001)

That’s all for now – I think we’re all going to need a little breather after that one. Join me again tomorrow, however, as we diversify things up with an in-depth look at a, perhaps less frantic, tune from a Trinidad-born composer and Steel Pan player who has been a founding member of Twentieth Century Steel Band, and has collaborated on projects with Blur and Morcheeba. His latest album has recently been released by Moshi Moshi 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: Bleach Lab – “Old Ways”

March 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

As the old saying goes – you can’t always teach an old Dog new tricks. New post time!

Pictured: Jenna Kyle (Lead Vocalist/Rhythm Guitar), Frank Wates (Lead Guitar/Keyboard), Josh Longman (Bass Guitar) and Shawn Courtney (Drums/Percussion) (2021) (Photo by Isy Townsend)

Good Afternoon to you – My name is Jacob Braybrooke and it’s time to get the new week started with your daily track on the blog, like typically, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Fronted by vocalist/songwriter Jenna Kyle, Bleach Lab are a fresh new indie Dream-Rock project who have wonderfully become a force to be reckoned with in the UK. Tipped by music publications like Gigwise, Under The Radar and Notion as one of the most promising relative newcomers to emerge from the new year, the 4-piece have just self-released their debut EP, ‘A Calm Sense Of Surrounding’ over the past weekend. BBC Radio 6 Music presenters Shaun Keaveny and Steve Lamacq are big fans too, with lead single ‘Old Ways’ hanging onto the B-list of the station’s daytime rotation. The band were originally formed in Buckinghamshire, but they have relocated to South London, with the quartet’s literate poetry sound drawing comparisons to Mazzy Star and Cocteau Twins. Conceptually, their new release is a reflection of two grieving experiences: The death of bassist Josh Longman’s father and the slow, but emotive, split of Kyle from a long-term partner. The two producers compare and contrast these issues through the five stages signaled by the five tracks on the EP. Get a taste of it with ‘Old Ways’ below.

For many of us, the last year and so has seen a cloud of trauma and change that have modified the way that we live different parts of our lives and the methods that we use to process these events, and the idea that we may all regulate our mental or physical wounds in our own distinctive way seems true for singer Kyle on ‘Old Ways’, which she says “explores the angry side of the grieving process at the end of a relationship,”, with “Anger towards the way in which they treated you but also towards oneself for still missing them regardless.”, according to the band’s new press notes on the track. It quickly establishes emotive and contentious qualities right out of the gate, with subtly nostalgic and 80’s-inspired Shoegaze sound models. The guitar melodies are gently sprawling, and the drum rhythm is very subdued, which pair together with contemplative lyrics like “Looking back at us, and how we used to be” and “I know your Old Ways, I realized that it was two different worlds” that build a sense of atmosphere, and a suggestion that the situation is still haunting the mindfulness of our narrator in a small capacity, as if to symbolize the old black dog of depression. The chorus adds some shimmering bass guitar riffs to the mix, before Kyle begins to ponder over the fabrictions that we sometimes make to twist events slightly to fit our preferred narrative that eases our pain slightly. Vocals like “Before you say it, I think you already know” and “You told a lie, you will regret it” add a little more melodicim to the mix, as the sonic capabilities stretch past the twangy guitar work a touch. Kyle also repeats the killer line of “I never said it, you made it up on your own” to tease a sense of resigned anger in the back of her mind, although the lyrics are still recited gracefully, and they express the sound of the ‘strangely comforting’ – or so to speak. Overall, I really like this track. There is nothing that really strikes out to me as wildly experimental to me, and it feels quite accessible due to this. However, I really enjoy how intimate that it feels and how the lyrics feel very personal to the artists. It makes for some meaningful expression, where there is a soft pleasure in the vibrancy of the emotions that keep us mentally tangling with a painful scenario. Melancholy Therapy.

Pictured: Cover Art for “A Calm Sense Of Surrounding” (EP) (Released on Mar 19, 2021) (Self-Released)

It’s time for me to wipe those tears away – and leave you to enjoy the rest of your day! I’ll be back tomorrow, however, for an in-depth look at some more recently released music, next time coming from the beautiful side project led by the front-man of the Canadian Indie Rock outfit Wintersleep, who has mixed and recorded his latest solo album in Halifax/K’jipuktuk and Chant in Bristol, in the UK. 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: William Doyle – “And Everything Changed (But I Feel Fine)”

March 19, 2021 — Leave a comment

Sometimes it’s like an hourglass with no sand in it. It’s a waist of time. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Great Spans Of Muddy Time” (Released on March 19, 2021) (via XL Recordings)

Top ‘O’ The Morning to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up right here for your daily track on the blog, because, just like always, it is routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It’s time for us to grab a sample of one of this week’s new album releases. The new crop includes the new offering from Americana mega-star Lana Del Rey, the fourth album from Oscar-nominated South African singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou, the debut album from the hotly tipped indie rock band Middle Kids, and there’s a debut EP from the emotive Dream-Rock band Bleach Lab. Since William Doyle – formerly known as East India Youth – was listed at the top of Deep Cuts’ Best Albums Of The 2010’s list for 2019’s ‘Your Wilderness Revisited’, which got some ecstatic reviews, I felt that his new album would be a great choice for us this week. Despite only being 30, Doyle seems something of a perfectionist, with ambient and instrumental side-projects, and a stint as the lead vocalist of Doyle and The Fourtfathers, to his name. He’s got plenty of experience, and so there is solid potential for ‘Great Spans Of Muddy Time’ – which arrives today via Tough Love Records – to shine this year. It’s been a rocky road to release, since he dealt with a hard-drive failure, leaving Doyle with only cassette recordings of each track on the record. This left a direct impact on the sonic direction and audio quality of the new record, which is named after a quote that he took from the memoirs of the BBC presenter Monty Don. He describes it to the press as a theme of Englishman-gone-mad, scrambling around the UK’s verdant rural pastures looking to make some sense. Let’s stream ‘And Everything Changed (But I Feel Alright)’ below.

Even just the front cover of the album’s artwork is a looker. I feel that this creates a contrast of vibrancy that juxtaposes with the mundanity of the lyrics exploring the standstill of the life cycle in ‘And Everything Changed (But I Feel Alright)’, which Doyle has told the press that “Like other favorite songs of mine, this arrived when I least expected it, almost fully formed. It’s partly a reaction to the complexity and excess of my last album. I wanted to get back into the craft of writing individual songs rather than being concerned with overarching concepts.” in his notes. Starting with a folk-led, acoustic guitar backing – Doyle deconstructs his Art-Rock roots to their very core. The analog synth work creates a washing wave of ambience, before Doyle softly sings lines like “As time rolled in from the East, The love stopped it’s happening” and “As though it had been agreed, Like wind blowing off the leaves” as distorted bass guitar chords and vocal harmonies pop in for a brief moment. The next section is pretty striking, as off-kilter guitar solo’s and a reverb effect on his voice adds some changes and shifts to the instrumentation and the tone of the package itself. Most notably, I think there’s something about the track which feels right for the time that we’re living in right now. With the synth work feeling analog-based and expansive, and the darker shades of the sonic production in the final section of the track, it is an effective reflection of the restrictions that we’ve been living under – for what feels like forever – currently. It ultimately brings a lack of excitement to our day-to-day lives, and Doyle seems to depict this accurately as he comments on the blurred lines between habit and instinct. The instrumentation, such as the loosely packed synths towards the end, and the meticulous guitar patterns that split up during the chorus, and the basic lines like “I’m always dimming the light switch” also make a point of the necessity in our believing in intuition, while persevering in the most difficult of situations. It feels like perhaps the most obvious choice for a single from the new long-player, due to it’s accessibility – with relatable lyrics and fairly stripped-down production – but it feels articulate and it still makes some noteworthy commentary on how the pandemic has stripped us down to our basic instincts. Overall, the effort put into this can really be heard because I think it succeeds very well. More moving than it seems at first glance.

Pictured: Cover Art for “Your Wilderness Revisited” (Released on November 1, 2019) (via XL Recordings)

That’s all I’ve got time for today! Scuzz Sundays returns in two days time, and so you’ve got that weekly entry to look forwards to. In the meantime, however, I’ve got some new music to share with you tomorrow – which features the mainstream-friendly names of KT Tunstall and Peaches as featured vocalists. The main artists, however, are a US Garage-Rock duo based in Los Angeles who have opened for Blondie and Garbage in their ‘Rage and Rapture’ tour of 2017. They also released a collaborative album with The Flaming Lips two years later. 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/

International Women’s Day 2021 Special: St. Vincent – “Digital Witness” (2014)

March 8, 2021 — 1 Comment

An alternative ode to just sitting in front of the TV! Happy International Women’s Day!

Pictured: St. Vincent performing “Digital Witness” on Later… With Jools Holland (2014) (via BBC.com)

Good Afternoon to you – and wishing very a happy International Women’s Day to all readers on the blog, thanks for continuing to stick with me in these harsh times! Or, if you’ve never been here before, Welcome – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and this is the place where I get writing up about a different piece of music every single day! As noted, it has been declared as the annual International Women’s Day today, and so I thought it would be nice to feature a female artist who inspires me today. I would usually always pivot towards Bjork and I think she’s my favourite female music artist of all time for her socio-economic currency, but I know I’ve talked to death about her on the blog and on the radio, so let’s give someone else a well-deserved celebration instead. St. Vincent is the alias that Oklahoma-born Art-Pop singer songwriter Annie Clark uses to release music under, and she’s become an icon of the Alternative music genre ever since she began her career as a member of The Polyphonic Spree. She is of a similar ilk to Prince or Bowie in the ways that she’s going to release her raw, unedited material whether the industry cares or not, and she always pushes the boundaries and reinvents herself successfully between her releases. She’s currently gearing up to release her next album, “Daddy’s Home” on May 14th, and the internet music community seems to be super excited for that one. However, when I look to the archives, arguably none of her tracks stick out at me quite like “Digital Witness” does, which was released as a single in 2014 from her self-titled fourth album. The album received unanimously strong praise from critics, with publications like The Guardian, Slant and NME naming it their Album Of The Year at the time, along with winning the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album in 2015 – also making Clark the first female artist to win the nod twice. One fun bit of pop culture trivia for you is that she dated supermodel and actress Cara Delevingne between 2014 and 2016. I think Clark was actually quite a bit older than Cara, not that it’s all that relevant, but it’s a solid Showbiz fact still. Nevertheless, St. Vincent is a much beloved female artist who is definitely paving the way for the industry and the ways in which high-caliber female creatives perform on the stage and on screen. Let’s delve into “Digital Witness” below.

St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) has also been very significant for the representation of gender politics in her work, with St. Vincent telling Rolling Stone in a 2014 interview that “I don’t have anything to hide, but I’d rather the emphasis be on the music” when she was asked whether she identified as straight or homosexual, and she’s also worked with high-profile names like David Byrne and Swans, a collaboration of which Byrne commented: “Despite having toured with her for almost a year, I don’t think I know her much better, at least not on a personal level… mystery is not a bad thing for a beautiful, talented young woman (or man) to embrace. And she does it without seeming to be standoffish or distant.” in a profile for Village Voice. Clark just carries an aura of bold, vibrant focus on just her creativity itself, a natural sense of passion and determination that I hold dearest in “Digital Witness”. She immediately instructs us to “Get back to your seats” in the opening line of the track, before she builds her commentary on the social media addiction themes with a funky, squelching trumpet beat. It feels tense and sophisticated, while having a defiantly odd and lovingly strange sound. The Jazz elements feel idiosyncratic, with light Pop hooks like “People turn the TV on, it looks just like a window” and “Digital witnesses, what’s the point of even sleeping?” permeating through the angular grooves. Her vocals are balancing a slightly bitter tone with a more celebratory one, with the chorus lyrics of “If I can’t show it, If you can’t see me/What’s the point of even sleeping?” permeating over the top of a delayed pedal effect where the Synth-adjusted Brass instrumental feels a bit more raw and painful. There’s a sense of flirtation with the dissonance of the guitar work that characterizes the overall sound, as bright and pastoral textures are added to juxtapose the more angry, unsettling sections. The instrumental feels busy, but each of the different elements plays a detailed part, where the themes of viral media consumption and the wider implications of this – a wonky perception of personal image and the risks we pay to attain surveillance, are all hidden between the chords too. It’s really a brilliant tune – with smart wordplay and a layer of surrealist themes that feels as relentlessly likeable as it also feels cautionary. I also love the moments where she adds a “YAH” to the end of the chorus – as well as being purely adorable, it feels cryptic and manages to put you in a train of thought, almost hypnotically as the off-kilter Trumpet section continues raging on. It all feels a bit Prince, but it also feels culturally relevant and distinctively original. A very accomplished piece of truly great music that can never age and may yet evolve with the times. *Readjusts Neck* YAAAH!

Time to catch my breath – After I remind you that I’ll be back tomorrow, like always, with an in-depth look at some more music. It’s a brand new tune that I’ve been loving on my radio show tomorrow, as we keep up the positive energy. Indeed, tomorrow’s new track is a great find that comes from the solo project of one half of the sibling Chicago Psych-Rock duo Wild Belle, and the track was also featured on a recent episode of BBC Radio 6Music Recommends with Tom Ravenscroft. 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: Mogwai – “Richie Sacramento”

February 19, 2021 — Leave a comment

Gizmo also stars in the Russian version of “Gremlins” – Kremlins! Time for a new post.

Pictured: Cover Art for “As The Love Continues” (Released on Feb 19, 2021) (via Rock Action Records)

Good Morning to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, because it is my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Another handful of brand new albums have been unveiled on to the record players or streaming platforms of your choice today, as is typically the case every Friday. I’m excited to hear the uplifting, dance pop vibes of SG Lewis’s new release. However, there’s also new Art-Pop from Issac Dunbar, the long-awaited return of The Hold Steady and the Psych-Rock of the ‘one-person band’ Tash Sultana that may take your fancy too. One of the most anticipated albums for the year, however, has been “The Love Continues” by the very influential Scottish Post-Rock band Mogwai, who have been going for 25 years now. John Peel championed them with Peel Sessions back in the day of the late-90’s, and the new record is being released strategically to coincide with their 25th anniversary of their debut single, “Tuner/Lower”, with it’s distribution being handled by their own label, Rock Action Records. Let’s find out what they’ve got to offer us with “Ritchie Sacramento” below.

Featuring contributions from Atticus Ross and Colin Stetson, the new album marks another chapter in the sweeping and the cinematic grandeur of the band’s sound, typically composed of lengthy guitar sequences and improvised sections. “Ritchie Sacramento” plays tribute to the legendary Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, with the title of the lead single being a playful pronunciation of the name. In addition to this, lead vocalist Stuart Braithwaite also says this track is “the only conventional pop song on the record” in Mogwai’s press notes. Starting off with a highly distorted guitar hook, the lyrics of “Rise crystal spear flied through over me/Suddenly gone from here, left alone on the road” evokes a light sunset haze, with the slight melodic feel of these vocalss dipping in and out of the horizon conveyed by the fuzzy guitar beats and the variety of flickering bass tones. The bridge in the closing stages is a highlight, where the shimmering synth tones deftly undercuts the stillness of the rhythm. The chorus sweeps in for a straight-up late-90’s indie rock feel, with the lyrics of “Disappear in the sun/All gone” and “It took a while just to think/Of home” being backed by some powerful, quickly paced drumming and the irregular patterns of bass rumbles. The lyrics themselves are drawing and expansive, with little direct answers being given by the questions they ask. There’s a mid-tempo swing between a happy and sad emotion, however, with patches of reflective songwriting and emotional qualities being given off by the repeating themes of home and belonging. The textures are relatively light, however, and I feel the quiet sections of the vocal performance is selling the changing moments of tranquility and disorganization well. Overall, it’s a real grower, and I don’t think I really “got” this one initially, but I think the moments where Braithwaite looks back at companionship in the past flourishes under the Prog-Rock sound and the diversity of the emotions is good. Perfectly solid.

Pictured: Stuart Braithwaite (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar), Dominic Aitchison (Bass Guitar/Rhythm Guitar), Barry Burns (Keyboard/Synths/Flute) and Martin Bulloch (Drums) (in 2021) (Photo by Antony Cook)

The days and the weeks keep flowing by – but that’s all for today! Scuzz Sundays is set for a new entry in two days time as usual, but before then, I’ve got one more for you. Tomorrow, we’re going to take an in-depth look at a recent collaboration between one of Warp Records’ experimental electronic mainstays, and the high-profile star of this year’s half-time show at The Super Bowl. You can have that one for free! 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: Django Django – “Glowing In The Dark”

February 12, 2021 — Leave a comment

…and I’ve got a name proposal for the follow-up – Django Unchained! New post time.

Pictured: David McLean (Acoustic Drum Kit/Producer), Vincent Jeff (Lead Singer/Rhythm Guitar), Jimmy Dixon (Bass Guitar) and Tommy Grace (Synthesizers/Drum Machine) (in 2013) (Photo by Sonic)

Good Afternoon – and I wish a happy half-term to any teachers reading this! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up on the blog for your daily dosage of recommended music listening, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Of course, it’s Friday – and we traditionally have another crop of new releases to sift through. This week feels a little quieter than the last few instances. I’m suddenly looking forward to hearing Claud’s debut full-length release after discovering them basically just days ago, there’s also a return LP from mid-00’s childhood favourites The Pretty Reckless, there’s daytime-friendly Country from Florida Georgia Line, and Pale Waves are adding to the ‘Indie’ genre. As I went down the obvious route last week with a peak at the new album from Dave Grohl’s group of megastars, I felt that a more leftfield and not so familiar choice would suit us nicely this week. “Glowing In The Dark” is the fourth studio LP to come from Django Django, an Art-Rock quartet who formed together in London after the four producers met each other through their studies at the Edinburgh College Of Art in 2009. Their material has previously been handpicked for video game soundtracks including Grand Theft Auto V and FIFA 13, and the band’s self-titled debut album was nominated for the Mercury Prize following it’s release in 2012. Signed to the Because Music label, Django Django have made waves in the Dance Music scene through collaborations with Hot Chip and Roisin Murphy. Their new album, “Glowing In The Dark”, is rooted in the themes of escaping from despair, from constraints, from small-town life, from dreams, and just living on Earth. Let’s give the title track a stab below.

One of the band’s co-founders – lead vocalist Vincent Jeff – has billed the new record as “a creative rebirth for the band of sorts” and the track listing includes a collaboration with Charlotte Gainsbourg. In addition to this, the 4-piece Alternative Rock band have enlisted the help of New York-based graphic designer Braulio Amadio, who created the animations for the technicolor-themed music video that you’ve just watched. So far, the new album is a critical win, and their plethora of electronic sounds manage to sound just as vibrant as the colours of Amadio’s visual work. “Glowing In The Dark”, the title track, matches the lively images nicely. Most notably, it goes back to the electronic 90’s sounds of bands like OMD and New Order, with a half-spoken and half-sung series of vocals ascending above a slick, polished bassline and a propulsive set of drum loops that control the push-and-pull tempo of the sonic Synths. A harmonic backing vocal and a UK Garage-inflicted bass beat seem to propel the electronic beats forward at an emerging, and then retreating, pattern. The lyrics touch on a need to find escapism, and a search for adventure in life. Vincent Jeff delivers the refrains of “Give me a remedy, a hand, a guide, and now we see” and “My senses taken leave, I need a space to breathe” with a catchy rhythm, and the accompanying Synth loops seem clean and clear. A simple “Now we’re glowing in the dark” leads the repeating chorus, as a punchy set of two-step drum beats put the pedal to the medal, and gradually layered electronic keyboard riffs punctually enter the fray, shuffling the mixing and adding a glitched quality to the sound that makes Jeff’s vocals stutter, and add a quirky set of wonky production to the soundscape. Overall, I really enjoyed this. It’s the first time that I’ve properly taken note of Django Django’s work, and I’m walking away impressed. This would have been a solid fit for music festivals, with a euphoric sound that crosses a range of genres with a decent amount of depth, and on the whole, it shows the band to be a solid class of tinkerers.

Pictured: Cover Art for “Glowing In The Dark” (LP) (Released on Feb 12th, 2021) (via Because Music)

That’s all for now – Take care of yourself, and get digging through that backlog of yours. Scuzz Sundays is our next weekly feature, and a new addition to that library is set to arrive at the usual time. Before then, why not reconvene with me tomorrow? I’ll be taking a deep dive into the most recent album release to come from a well-established Synthpop group from Australia. The band are probably best known for their third album that came out in 2011 – which ultimately earned the awards for “Best Dance Release” and “Artisan Award for Best Cover Art” at the ARIA Music Awards of the same year. 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/

One Track At A Time

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