Today’s Track: Bakar – “Hell N’ Back”

November 9, 2019 — 2 Comments

Life can sometimes feel like a big trip to Hell N’ Back, so here’s a post to cheer you up!

Pictured: Still image from the “Hell N’ Back” music video (2019)

Bakar is a hip-hop songwriter from Camden, who likes to describe his own music as: “schizophrenic”. This is because he incorporates a multitude of different elements of genres into his music to create his own unique sound, be it funk or soul, jazz or trip-hop, garage or alternative rock, drawing on his influences like Gorillaz, James Blake, Aaliyah and Foals, to create a very exciting and inviting mix of effervescent genre-hopping monikers to his own stock. In a recent interview with Complex, Bakar explained his sound with: “If people saw me and presumed the kind of music I make, 90% of them would say rap or hip-hop. I could be on every single playlist on Spotify and feel at home there.”, growing his confidence and finding his feet as a new artist who wants to shapeshift like a Chameleon and shatter preconceptions people may have of him. “Hell N’ Back” is his latest single. It was released by Black Butter Limited.

“Hell N’ Back” is taken from his latest EP release, “Will You Be My Yellow”, which was released on September 13th, 2019. The track opens with a whistling vocal tune, which builds up to a delayed trumpet solo which sounds ripe for a lazy stoner tune that sounds easy like Sunday morning! As Bakar’s vocals kick in: “Could you tell where my head was at when you found me?/Me and you went to hell and back just to find peace”, before he proceeds to tell an upbeat story of finding peace with a close friend or lover with: “I mixed a lot of love with a lot of drugs, then I found you/She liked petty crimes, she had green eyes like Mountain Dew”, with the track evoking feelings of an early 00’s jazz record from Curtis Mayfield or Leon Bridges, although it’s also ripe with hip-hop elements due to a spoken word chorus which interlinks the different contextual themes together: “Could you tell where my head was at when you found me?/Me and you went to hell and back just to find peace/Man, I thought I had everything, I was lonely/Now you’re my everything, I was lonely”, with a slight chill pop vibe being added to make the production work on the track sound cleaner and a little bit more polished than his earlier tracks like “Big Dreams” and “Chill”. The track definitely has a vintage and old-school tinge of soul to it, due to the jazz percussion, such as the horns, which is paired with the pop-ballad style of writing. Overall, it’s a solid track that reminds me of vintage classics, while pushing Bakar forwards into his future as an artist and each of the different elements flow together pretty cohesively.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Will You Be My Yellow?” (EP) (2019)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with another weekly installment of my Scuzz Sundays, late 90’s to 00’s punk anthems, blog posts, which will take you on a trip down memory lane and back to the history of the Scuzz TV channel! 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: Beck – “Uneventful Days”

October 29, 2019 — 1 Comment

It’s been one of those uneventful days for me – Uni, work and deadlines has pretty much just been my entire life since September, but yet, I’ve been too busy doing that to write today’s post until the late evening. What’s going on with that? VOO-DOOOOO?

On a lighter note, it’s a gift from the universe to us all that Beck Hansen – the man, the myth and the dream mate I’d like to go for a night out with – is releasing a brand new album on November 22nd – “Hyperspace” – which is a science-fiction themed alternative pop/lo-fi album with the likes of Pharrell Williams, Greg Kurstin, Sky Ferreira and – oddly enough – Chris Martin from Coldplay (URGHHHHHH!!!!!! I HATE COLDPLAY!) on the guest list! I’m really looking forward to seeing how Beck completely reinvents himself this time with the follow-up to his 2017 re-break-out record “Colors”, which won the Best Alternative Music Album award at last year’s Grammy Awards. Beck has released “Hyperspace”, a pop-driven interlude with swirling synths and a darker texture of lyricism – as well as “Uneventful Days”, which is a single that he co-produced with Pharrell Williams. Talking about the collaboration with Pharrell to NME, Beck said: “was not expecting the songs to come out how they did. I was going in thinking of songs like ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’, y’know?” Beck said. “[Pharrell] felt very strongly that, spending a little time with me, that, ‘You need to be doing singer-songwriter type of songs’. So that was more of the direction we went in. I really tried to be less ambitious on the production on these songs, like to let them be simple and let them breathe. Pharrell is a master minimalist.”, so it sounds like Beck is confident that he’s found a match made in heaven! The music video for “Uneventful Days” is directed by Dev Hynes, a filmmaker and musician also known as Blood Orange, who’s released synthpop bangers of his own in several years, such as “You’re Not Good Enough” and “Charcoal Baby”, a synth-based tune dealing with depression.

Elaborating on the comments made by Beck to NME, “Uneventful Days” is a track that is very soft in context and it sounds very light on the ears. It kicks off with an ambient Jazz style, which sounds very cosmic indeed. Beck uses glistening guitar licks and spaced-out synth lines, with a focus on the vocals and the keyboard-driven melodies. Beck croons: “Uneventful days, uneventful nights/Living in the dark, waiting for the light”, later chiming in with “I don’t even know what’s wrong (the days without you)/Ever since you’ve been gone/Only ten minutes to go (leave me cold and alone)” over a bed of 80’s-style instrumental hooks and modern chart R&B, as the sound of the track progresses Beck forward as an artist, as he vocally reflects on the choices he’s made in his life and comments on the mundanity of everyday life, a vision of irony which becomes clearer with the Dev Hynes-directed video. The production work is electronic, but it’s also minimalist and quiet, it conveys a sense of Beck sensing a problem, but he’s struggling to make a head or a tail about the wider picture. Overall, I really like the composition on the track, as it feels mechanical and undeniably pop, as well as sounding very accessible to newcomers of Beck’s discography, although there is a slight tinge of a mainstream style in there, which I’m a little bit concerned about, but it’s reassuring to know that Beck’s behind the steering wheel of his own destiny as an artist – as usual. I can’t wait to hear the full record in a handful of weeks!

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with a look at a new track from an English female solo artist who is also a poet, novelist and a playwright, most notably winning the Ted Hughes Award for her spoken word poem “Brand New Ancients” for her innovation in poetry in 2013! 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: Tom Misch (feat. Poppy Ajudha) – “Disco Yes!”

October 21, 2019 — Leave a comment

I shouldn’t think many of you should be going out to Disco on a Monday, but whatever floats your boat! Yes, it’s a brand new week and it’s time for your new post…

Pictured: Tom Misch in a photoshoot for a “Hypebeast” interview (2018)

Tom Misch is an English DJ, singer, songwriter and producer from London. I first heard about his work through a few guest collaborations with HONNE, an English R&B duo, also from London, who I’ve been a massive fan of ever since they started producing records 5-6 years ago. Tom Misch has also collaborated with Michael Kiwanuka on “Money”, a track released earlier in the year, and on a few tracks with Loyle Carner, an English hip-hop artist. Misch started self-producing records which he would post to his very own Soundcloud account in 2012, before he was signed by Beyond The Groove, a record label based in London which he also set up by himself, before Misch finally released his official debut LP record, “Geography” in April 2018. “Disco Yes” is a track from the record, which features Poppy Ajudha, an English Jazz singer, on vocals.

“Disco Yes” is a very soulful electronic pop track, with guitar riffs that sound reminiscent of disco and funk sounds from the 1960’s and 70’s, but littered by funky guitar grooves and electro-swing bass licks. The vocals are a little monotone in their delivery, which expands upon the super-smooth and witty, almost a little bit flirtatious, sense of lyricism. The vocals from Ajudha are rugged and distinct, but it adds to the experience of the track not feeling overproduced or soaked in production work that feels too clean or safe. The inclusion of a female voice adds texture and sensuality to the funk sound. The outro is a little bit long and the track would have achieved a similar effect if it was to be cut a minute or so shorter, but I’m fond of the variation of styles in the track and how many different genres are gelled together to create an up-to-date disco jam that feels evocative in it’s moods and experiments with various styles, even if a shorter duration might have sweetened up the final deal.

Pictured: Cover Artwork For “Geography” (2018)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as promised, with a track from a new indie rock band who are signed to Bella Union Records and released their debut LP record over the summer, with the record being self-produced by the band in their hometown of Brighton! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Missy Elliott – “Throw It Back”

September 27, 2019 — Leave a comment

Welcome to the blog! I’ve written your daily post, so I’m going to throw it back at you!

Pictured: Cover Art For “Iconology” EP (2019)

Having been recently inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame, being the first female Hip-Hop artist to ever do so, Missy Elliot has been paramount to the US Hip Hop scene for a good reason over the last 20 years or so. Elliot’s contributions to the development of film-making artistry within music videos is second to none. Elliot has also won 5 Grammy Awards in her career and she is reportedly the highest selling female hip-hop artist of all-time. It’s no pressure for Elliot then as she makes her return to the world of music after going on an indefinite hiatus since 2005’s “The Cookbook” LP. On August 23rd, Elliot released “Iconology”, a five-track EP which explores the variety of genres which Eliot has covered as an artist and rolls them into one neatly wrapped gift with a little bow on the top. The EP release came out of nowhere, with no promotion beforehand, as a surprise drop. “Throw It Back” is the lead single, which has received significant airplay on BBC Radio 6Music.

After her incredible collaboration with Lizzo on the track “Tempo” from earlier this year, it’s very pleasant to see Elliott continuing to produce very colourful music which has a very exciting sound. The influence from the all-out brashness of “Tempo” is noticeable on “Throw It Back”, but it’s a track that also features plenty of referential nods-and-winks to Elliott’s previous classics and it sounds like a relatively pleasant stroll down memory lane through it’s 4 minute duration. It’s hard to deny the energy and flow which Elliot has fashioned into the production work and the electronic instrumentation of the track, but it feels slightly outdated and the lyrics feel like a retread of old schemes. The problem is that hip-hop is going under a big repositioning at the moment and it’s moving a little bit past some of Elliott’s work in the 00’s in terms of it’s political context and influential structure. As a result of this, it’s difficult to find where a nostalgia track like “Throw It Back” fits into the equation. It lacks the immediate impact which tracks like Little Simz’ “Offence” and Sampa The Great’s “Final Form” have mastered earlier in the year, so “Throw It Back” feels like a tired formula in comparison to some of those tracks. The track isn’t necessarily bad and it’s fun in places, such as Elliot’s amusing shots at social media: ” I did records for Tweet before y’all could even tweet” and her mildly interesting shots at her influence on the hip-hop movement of today: “I raised all these babies, call me Katherine Jackson.”, but the bass thumps feel a little bit out of time and the rhyming scheme is a little bit simplistic. Overall, it’s a track which sadly doesn’t leave much of an effect. It sounds quite generic and it feels lacking in inspiration. Sorry Missy, but I think you need to up the “Tempo” just a little bit more. However, it won’t damper her career very much as records like 1997’s “Supa Dupa Fly” are still legendary releases that have, and will always, shape the very landscape of hip-hop music as we know it.

Pictured: Missy Elliott being inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame (2019)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at a new track from The Comet Is Coming’s new EP, “The Afterlife”, which is a small companion piece to their incredible LP, “Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery”, which was released in March by the Impulse Records label! Also, make sure you visit the blog on Sunday to read the latest of my special “Scuzz Sundays” themed posts! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/