Today’s Track: EARTHGANG – ‘All Eyes On Me’

April 18, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Olu (aka Johnny Venus) & WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dut) (2022) (Photo by Jordan Payne/Rolling Stone)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to wipe the chocolate from those Eggs off of your face for a few moments as we listen to yet another 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! The music video for ‘All Eyes On Me’ has recently surpassed over one billion views on YouTube, a great result for the Atlanta-based Hip Hop duo of Earthgang, which is comprised of southern rappers Olu (aka Johhny Venus) and WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dut – who was born as Eian Parker) who were co-founders of the Spillage Village collective which also includes JID, Hollywood JB, JordxnBryant, 6LACK, Mebera and Benji. Earthgang mostly feels like a side project for the two creatives, who have released a trilogy of EP’s and one major album on the Dreamville Records label that fellow rapper J. Cole heads. The duo released a few singles like ‘American Horror Story’, ‘Aretha’ and ‘Erykah’ to showcase the diversity of subjects being disected throughout the record, but ‘All Eyes On Me’ seems to be one of the most symbolic examples of their new album’s sound and core values. ‘Ghetto Gods’ – their second studio album – has received positive acclaim from publications like AllMusic, Exclaim, NME and Rolling Stone, along with consistent radio airplay from KEXP, making their top ten list of albums being featured regularly on their DJ’s shows. It was produced by Kawan “KP” Prather and SinceThe80’s, and it features a varied range of guest collaborators too. Among these names are people like CeeLo Green, Baby Tate, Future, JID, Ari Lennox, and more. Check out ‘All Eyes On Me’ below.

Referencing the hardships that everyone has been dealing with throughout the pandemic, such as the loss of jobs and the missed opportunities in our lives due to the long-term effects of recent years for their music video, Olu and WowGr8 encourage us to enjoy the most profound things in life while celebrating their survival as black people in America. An effective opening sets the scene with lyrics like “Warriors die, but they live in the sky/I’ve never seen a Gucci watch in my future, sign of the times” that Olu spits out to reference the financial difficulties that many have been struggling through. WowGr8 tells his side of the coin in the next verse, as he raps about taking care of his family despite personal issues in order to tell a larger narrative of the ‘target’ that is placed on the back of his community and the judgment that black people are still constantly subjected to within the environment. The chorus brings together the themes of poverty, addiction, police brutality and prejudice in the legal system with an upbeat spin anyways, as the pair shout us out with sequences like “You survived last year/Get your hands up” and “I know that money tight, that slimmy check light/I should stash some, but we gon’ ball for the night” that illustrates the point of living for today and not showing an overload of concern for tomorrow. The rougher topics of racism, tragedy and horror stories from the hood are still gently crammed into it, but the general vibe is a more relatable and uplifting one overall. These lyrical musings play out to the calming tune of hi-hat’s, chirping backing vocals and an 808 knock that creates a mellow groove throughout, and the duo’s production has a similar energy that drives the emotional, booming Bass beats forwards as the two celebrate their simple achievements of chasing your dreams in a world full of creatives that is plagued by external struggles, and I can see why the track has found so much popularity recently because the points being made are rather universal, but they still feel deep enough to stand out a little bit. I’m not sure that I would revisit it hugely often because it is straightforward, but the verses feel very conscious and the chorus has a catchy energy to it, which makes it feel engaging despite clearly being influenced by mainstream trap. An important act of just patting yourself on the back.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘GHETTO GODS’ (LP/Album) (Released on Febraury 25th, 2022) (via Dreamville Records)

That brings us to the end of another roughly 24 hour period, and the end of another daily post on the blog. Thank you for showing me your support as always, and I’ll be back tomorrow to review a single from an upcoming new album being released by a Canadian singer-songwriter, of Serbian heritage, who is based in London. She has recorded two sessions for Marc Riley’s show on BBC Radio 6 Music, and she recorded a cover version of King Crimson’s ‘I Talk To The Wind’ as a charity single in 2020. Monkeybiz, a website, have described her previous album as “a beautiful work of art”.

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New Album Release Fridays: Nilufer Yanya – ‘The Dealer’

March 4, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Painless’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 4th, 2021) (via ATO Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to enjoy an in-depth preview for one of the weekend’s most exciting stand-out’s in an eclectic line-up of exciting new album releases with yet another daily track on the blog, which makes sense because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Painless’ is the second studio album to come from Nilufer Yanya, who is the daughter of two visual artists who have Turkish and Irish-Barbadian heritage, which is releasing today via ATO Records. What makes Yanya very interesting is how, despite growing up listening to traditional Turkish folk music and Classical music, she gravitated to guitar-based rock ‘n’ roll instead, and she learned how to play an instrument when she was just twelve years old. Yanya has spoken out in the press about the talent acquisition model that she experienced when she found fame via SoundCloud in 2014, how people have assumed that she makes R&B music due to her appearance and background, and the lack of diversity in modern music festivals across the UK, most recently, in a firm but fair interview with The Independent. However, Yanya goes for a different sound than you may expect and pushes some boundaries with a sound that I would describe as quite ‘loose’ and ‘restless’, as she incorporates a decent variety of influences including Trip Hop, Blues Rock, Neo-Soul and Progressive Jazz into her repertoire of releases. The 26-year-old West London-based singer-songwriter says, “Painless is a record that forces the listener to sit with the discomfort that accompanies so many of life’s biggest challenges whether it be relationship breakdowns, coping with loneliness, or the search for our inner self. It’s a record about emotion”, in the LP’s product description on the Rough Trade website. The bold and ambitious release is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Miss Universe’ and a string of EP’s that were compiled to essentially form up her 2021 release ‘Inside Out’. Check out the latest single from it – ‘The Dealer’ – that was attached to the visualizer below.

“When I was writing this song, I was thinking about the transient nature of life and the cyclical nature of the seasons”, Yanya says of her final pre-release single ‘The Dealer’ that follows previously unveiled tracks like ‘Midnight Sun’ and ‘Another Life’, and she adds, “I find it interesting how we attach certain memories and feelings to different seasons and tend to revisit them time and time again, yet our lives move in a more linear motion and even when we feel like we are going back we never really get to go back anywhere. Musically speaking, it’s a bit more playful and relaxed”, in her press statement. Establishing a high tempo quickly and right out of the gate with a fuzz-laden series of blurred and dreamy guitar chords that are complemented aggressively by some clattering hip hop-like drum beats, Yanya gets right down to business by crooning “It’s been weighing on my mind/Seems to be with me all the time” and “I thought you were someone to rely on/Does sadness pick you to the bone?” with a lovesick tone as she continually contemplates her cyclical nature of her thought process. The instrumentation is fast, but frequent, as the track develops and the guitar-drum’s combo have a high-speed energy that allows the pounding break-beats and shoegaze-influenced basslines to have a few merticulous time signature changes that can appeal to the most avid fans of Prog Rock structuring while suiting the lushly harmonic and expansive funk-rock style of her vocals and instrumentals. Lyrics like “Patience, there she goes/Cadence, set in stone” show Yanya trying to break out of the self-centric and specific modes of thinking about a relationship, and the more straightforward refrains like “I miss the kind of patience that breaks your heart/Baby, it’s me that is taking us apart” have a rhythmic delivery, but they still cut to the root of the problem that has been plaguing Yanya’s mind throughout the verses. Overall, ‘The Dealer’ has to be one of the strongest singles that I’ve heard from Yanya because she sounds clear and confident, while addressing vulnerability, in her vocals. I also like the adjacent guitar hooks and the angular drum beats that sound cool and casual, while gently veering towards a retro 90’s-disco style in their groove-like repetition. If ‘Painless’ builds upon ‘The Dealer’, a purchase of the LP is a deal that is hard to refuse.

Pictured: Nilufer Yanya in a promotional shoot for her live Latitude Festival set (2017) (Photo via ReadDork.com)

Thank you for reading my latest post, and I hope that you enjoy the rest of the day knowing that your continued support is always highly appreciated from me! Moving forwards, there is a new weekly entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ lined up for you on Sunday, but I’ve got a short and sweet one in the works for tomorrow where we’ll be reviewing the latest single from a Los Angeles native all-female indie rock band known for their 2010 essential track ‘Undertow’. They have supported Harry Styles and Foals on global tours, and their single ‘Lilys’ was featured in the HBO TV series ‘Made For Love’.

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Today’s Track: Toro Y Moi – ‘Postman’

February 15, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Mahal’ (LP) (Available from April 29th, 2022) (via Dead Oceans)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived for me to virtually hand-deliver yet another daily track on the blog to your letterbox, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We start the day with ‘Postman’ – a track that my mother is bound to enjoy since parcels are her thing. This is the new single from the South Carolina-born producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and graphic designer Toro Y Moi (aka Chad Bear), who is typically recognized as a figurehead for the Chillwave and Synthwave genres from the 2010’s, but his music also toes the line between a brevity of genres including Noise-Pop, Hip Hop, Post-Disco, Psychedelic Soul, Bedroom Pop, Ambient House and Alternative Rock. He has supported the likes of Ruby Suns, Phoenix and Caribou on tour and he has performed his single ‘Ordinary Pleasure’ on Ellen’s talk show. ‘Postman’ has been released as a double single that also includes ‘Magazine’ which features Salami Rose Joe Louis as the featured credit. These two singles are leading his new album ‘MAHAL’ that explores his Fillipino descent and it will be releasing on April 29th via Dead Oceans – the same label as the likes of Mitski, Shame, Khruangbin and Bright Eyes. The new record is a generous 13-track collection which includes contributions from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson, Sofie Royer, The Matson 2 and Alan Polomo (of Neon Indian). Let’s pay his ‘Postman’ a visit below.

‘Postman’ and ‘Magazine’ are the follow-up singles to 2019’s ‘Outer Peace’ – Bear’s sixth studio album. He also collaborated with Flume on ‘The Difference’ during May of 2020, a collaborative single that scored a Grammy nomination and it was used in a global Apple AirBuds advertising campaign. Channeling his inner Bootsy Collins with ‘Postman’, Bear lays out some slinky Psych-Soul beats and some low fidelity Funk grooves that are accelerated by some breezy percussion, like the rattling Tambourine melodies, and the more melodic, driving Bass melodies. Aside from some occasional electronic yelps that sound amusing in how comedically processed they are, the vocals are pretty spacious. Lyrics like “Just another bill today/Just another bill to pay” are direct and to the point, while the repetition of questions like “Mr Postman, did I get a letter?/Did I get a postcard” reflect on the good old-fashioned anticipation that you experience while waiting for an inevitable arrival of a piece of post, a time that we’ve all been through. The last verse, however, features a more emotive lyric of “Mama wrote a letter/A Long time ago/Then she hit her head/God bless her soul” that implies that something more dark is occurring beneath the surface, albeit in a playful way when mixed to the slow rhyming scheme of Bear’s vocal delivery, followed by the glitched outro that feels slightly futuristic by heading towards indie computer music in the brief sequence. Bear clearly leans into how post is a little non-existent in our modern day and age to create some fun and give his track a feel that is both nostalgic and a little progressive. We get a strong grower overall that is a little bizzare, but in a good way, because the composition is frisky and the repetition builds on you with a few repeated listens, and it is the kind of track that can annoy you by getting stuck in your head at work all evening – and that’s coming from my personal experience – thus becoming a catchy little ear-worm. I really liked it with subsequent listens, and I’ve enjoyed quite a lot of Toro Y Moi’s music in the past since it has an air of ‘Almost Pop’ to it where he has a knack for structuring catchy chords and writing high-spirited hooks by directing a decent diversity of various influences, yet it is within his Lo-Fi and Minimalist production that really controls the pace. It has also been a long time since we’ve heard some new solo material from him in comparison to most other artists these days, perhaps, too – and so it feels like a welcome breath of fresh air to hear from him again on ‘Postman’. An engaging and quirky letter of revival and return.

Pictured: Toro Y Moi with Flume in a PR photoshoot for ‘The Difference’ (2020) (Photo Credit: Joyce Kim)

If you want to hear how Toro Y Moi’s style meshes with Flume, you can gauge ‘The Difference’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/06/todays-track-flume-feat-toro-y-moi-the-difference/

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Difference’ (Single) (Released on April 30th, 2020) (via Future Classic Records)

That’s all that I have time for today, but I hugely appreciate your support by checking out the blog every day, or for the first time today, as you continue to spread the love to the site this Valentine’s Day despite it being finished. ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ is lined up for tomorrow, where we’ll be revisiting a classic of the Hip-Hop genre of the 1990’s by the Alternative Hip-Hop collective who made Charli 2na a household name.

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Today’s Track: Coco – ‘Come Along’

December 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Maia Friedman, Dan Molad & Oliver Hill in recent promotional artwork (2021) (Photo by Stella Hartmann)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and its time for me to welcome you into 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! Although they share their name with a Disney Pixar animated film that was actually very good when it was released in 2017, Coco aren’t really the eccentric type like the family-friendly musicals being created and re-made by the House Of Mouse. Instead, the New York-based indie rock trio of Coco are the more mysterious type. The band remained anonymous while releasing critically acclaimed singles like ‘Last Of The Loving’ and ‘One Time Villain’ in the past because they wanted to let the material speak for itself, making music with a whiff of Dream Pop, Soft R&B, Alternative Funk and psychedelic Dub to it that was simply about how the music makes you feel instead of disclosing any details about who made it. However, that etiquette changed late in the summer when Coco revealed their identities as people who we already knew from other projects. Coco are comprised of Maia Friedman from Dirty Projectors & Uni Ika Ai, Dan Molad who played in Lucius and Chimney, and, finally, Oliver Hill who you might recognize from Pavo Pavo and Dustrider. They each share the vocals, writing and production duties between each other. They released their debut self-titled studio album in late October via First City Artists and AWAL Recordings, including the single ‘Come Along’. The band says, “From the beginning, music sprung up between us with a surprising and collaborative ease. We made a conscious effort to foreground our intuitions and trust each other’s instincts – criticism and indecision weren’t part of the process” for their biography. They all invite you to ‘Come Along’ with them below.

“The skeleton of ‘Come Along’ was recorded live, all together, with Oliver on guitar, Maia on drums, and Danny on bass. The underlying chord loop plays throughout as other instruments are weaved in one by one, picking up momentum and rolling forward as everything joins in harmony”, Coco recalled in a shared press statement about the single, adding, “The video mimics the song in this way, portraying our individual days-in-the-life with each of us filming one another on handheld cameras”, in their explanation for the writing and process behind creating the laidback three-way vocal duet. Such an improvisational approach to ‘Come Along’ does make sense when you hear it, as it feels like a stress-free and calm little recording with a mellow, often romantic, spin on the songwriting. Opened by a briefly chiming, windy Bell arrangement that creates a drowsy vibe before intimate lyrics like “We share a simple word/You’ve given me a shirt/I put it on” and “A table and a chair/A memory of home/Carry it all home” kick in during the verses, set against the backdrop of gently strummed Acoustic guitar melodies and some more percussive kick drum snares that create a rich and dream-like atmosphere. The fusion of Psychedelic R&B and soulful Soft-Funk are given another twist when a lightly distorted guitar solo takes the lead during the half-way point. The chorus, counteracting the harmonious vocals and the sonic environment of the verses, comes closer to Pop. More clear-cut lyrics like “Talk to me about anything you need/Just please, come along” and “The company is healing me/So please, come along” take centre stage, for example, as the chilled atmosphere shifts with the enhancement of a rhythmic String section and a dampened bass guitar line. It bathes you, as the listener, in a warm sense of subtlety and euphoria that feels very alluring on the whole. The main vocal hook is a little cheesy, but it is delivered with swirling pure vocals and a sense of delicacy that evokes the mood of the song well enough to keep you engaged. Overall, ‘Come Along’ is a lovely fusion of mellow Soft-Rock and prominent Dub influences that reminds me of Khruangbin in its tone and style, but it reaches out a hand to the slightly more cinematic spectrum of music for my mind. A gorgeous and well-focused arrangement.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Coco’ (LP) (Released on October 29th, 2021) (via Self-Released/Bandcamp.com)

During their anonymous days, Coco gained similar praise with the release of their one-off single ‘Last Of The Loving’, which also earned a place on my October 2020 highlights wrap-up. If you haven’t heard it yet, see what the fuss was about here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/22/todays-track-coco-last-of-the-loving/

Pictured: Cover Art for “Last of The Loving” (Single) (Released on 4th August, 2020) (via FCA Records/Coco Time)

That’s it! Thank you for continuing to read and support the site every day, and I’ll be back tomorrow with another regular upload as we convert over to the experimental electronic dance side of the recent releases spectrum, coming from a Paris-based DJ who was scouted by BRIT Awards nominees Bicep for their Feel My Bicep imprint label. He performed a live DJ set at Sarcus Festival this year, and he has been featured on a ‘Friday Guest Mix’ produced by Bicep for Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC Radio 6 Music.

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Today’s Track: Nightmares On Wax (feat. OSHUN) – “Breathe In”

November 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Shout Out! To Freedom’ (Released on October 29th, 2021) (via Warp Records)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to indulge your senses into yet another 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! ‘Shout Out! To Freedom’ is the latest LP to come from the legendary Leeds-born and Ibiza-based electronic Trip Hop producer Nightmares On Wax – the now solo project of George Evelyn that used to be a trio with Kevin Harper and John Halnon up until the early 90’s – who has scored multiple crossover hits like ’70’s/80’s’, ‘Aftermath’, ‘Finer’, ‘Know My Name’ and ‘I’m For Real’ in the UK Singles Charts. He is the longest serving signee to the iconic forward-thinking experimental label Warp Records, and the critical acclaim of classic albums such as 2006’s ‘In A Space Outta Sound’, 1995’s ‘Smokers Delight’ and 2008’s ‘Thought So’ have led to his projects being highly anticipated among electronic music fans as some of the genre’s most important offerings. Sadly, he became more like ‘Nightmares No Vax’ in some Twitter posts leading up to the marketing machine of the new record, but, luckily, none of these controversial opinions have really cropped up on-record or became too preachy, and he opted to explore the general themes of freedom and meditation on his new album, and so it’s quite nice to see that he’s supporting freedom of speech without bringing any harm to others, and I could see his perspective as a creative coming from a non-white background. ‘Shout Out To Freedom’ has instead been released to pretty positive reviews, and it features a solid guest list of names including Greentea Peng, King Shabaka Hutchings of The Comet Is Coming fame, Mara TK, Pip Millett, Haile Supreme and others – each of which have been asked by Hill to collaborate on songs exploring what freedom means to them. The only single taken from the record with a music video attached is ‘Breathe In’, a mid-album track which includes vocals from the NYC duo OSHUN. Check it out below.

“I feel like I’ve been set free of something and I am now becoming who I really am”, says Evelyn of Nightmares On Wax fame, adding, “I’ve been gigging non-stop for 10 years, and that experience has been beautiful but it also drained me emotionally. As a creative, you’re always questioning everything. So, having the time and the space has meant that I could do a proper deep dive into this stuff. So it was all about this journey of going back to myself, and realizing being at home with my wife and my daughter that I’ve not really been here properly. It’s like I’ve just woken back up to what I actually have – and it’s already here”, when writing all about his new album – ‘Shout Out! To Freedom’. ‘Breathe In’ still contains the influences of Curtis Mayfield and Quincy Jones that have all shaped his typical concoction of Funk, Soul, Jazz, Downtempo Electronica, Dub and Techno that have kept his project alive for many decades and have characterized his sound, while putting a more modern spin on these styles predominantly within the lyrics, which discuss the simple act of staying off your phone and meditating instead. ‘Breathe In’ takes a slinky and psychedelic groove, embedded with the lyrical themes of nature and mindfulness, and Evelyn arranges some 90’s Trip Hop beats and a playful 90’s ploy on old-fashioned Dancehall melodies that have a weightlessness and an airy sense of production to them, mixing nicely with the deep and spiritual vocals from OSHUN that echo Dub all over the track. Some interesting String samples and subtle Keyboard loops make up the rest of the instrumentation, and there seems to be a lush 70’s Black Exploitation vibe to things where the usual elements of Jazz, Funk and Soul come together from Hill, some genres that he’s well known for exploring. A mix of darker Piano chords and punchier beats differentiate this track from some of his familiar 90’s and 00’s chilled out House offerings, and the more spacious parts of the vocals build to some longer harmonies and some sustained notes in the latter half of the track. While there aren’t any lyrics that specifically stick out to me, it seems like a variety of ideas are being conveyed through the balance of Urban and Nature that OSHUN evoked here. Overall, ‘Breathe In’ was a track which I enjoyed from the new album, which really strikes me as a good headphones-in-bed type of listening experience. While not as essential as other recent Warp Records efforts from the likes of Yves Tumor or Jockstrap, due to some of the melodies feeling as though they meander along a little bit, I still have a pretty positive perception of it. I like how it manages to not quite sound like any other track that I have heard from Evelyn to date, as the tribalistic drum loops and the psychedelic Soul feel manage to sound interesting. Whereas most of his tracks gives me a warm and comforting feel inside, this one feels more urgent in taking action, which is different to the way that most of his other singles make me feel. While there’s a general sense of positivity, it seems slightly more alarming. A great-sounding return.

Pictured: Nightmares On Wax (aka George Evelyn) performing at Wire (2016) (Photo by Justin Gardner)

That’s all for now and thank you for continuing to support the site. ‘Scuzz Sundays’ is set for tomorrow, and we’ll be focusing our attention to an English rock band who got their big break in 2006 when their Platinum certified debut album won the ‘Indie Album Of The Year’ gong at the 2006 PLUG Awards and each member of the band have continued to work on their own solo side projects in more recent times. Whilst together, the London band have sold over three million albums worldwide as of 2012.

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Today’s Track: Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “That Life”

October 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Ruban Nielson (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Piano/Keyboard), Jacob Portrait (Vocals/Bass Guitar/Synths) and Kody Nielson (Drums) in a photoshoot for NPR’s ‘World Cafe’ series (2014) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! You’re tuned into One Track At A Time and this is the point where I – Jacob Braybrooke – get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, since it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘That Life’ comes to you from the fairly well-established Prog-Rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who have been a hit with Psych Rock music fans throughout the 2010’s, originally gaining traction from Pitchfork critics for their uncredited debut single in 2010, before they took home the Taite Music Prize in 2012 for their self-titled debut LP that they released a year prior. The trio, who used to be a quintet, are from New Zealand and were formed in Auckland, and are currently based in Portland, Oregon where they continue to craft idiosyncratic rock music. The group have spent their time between the Fat Possum Records and Jagjaguwar labels, and they have embarked on mostly sold out tours across North America, Europe, The UK, Australia and New Zealand across their time. ‘That Life’ captured my attention due to the amusing music video – despite my relative unfamiliarity with the back catalog of the band – which features a very likeable dancing blue puppet that was created by puppeteer and fabricator Laura Manns, who is the creator of the puppets seen on ‘The Muppets’ and ‘Sesame Street’. Directed by Lydia Fine and Tony Blahd, their recent single follows the release of another single, ‘Weekend Run’, that was doing the rounds of the indie radio circuit across the summer. Ruban Nielson’s gang of non-conformists haven’t announced a follow-up album to 2018’s ‘IC-01 Hanoi’ – which received good reviews – just yet, however, logical time gaps and the steady release of some singles dictates that a new album is coming out. Put your feet up and enjoy ‘That Life’ below.

“I saw this painting by Hieronymus Bosch called The Garden Of Earthly Delights and in the painting there was a mixture of crazy stuff going on, representing heaven, earth and hell”, frontman Ruban Nielson explained in a press statement, adding, “When I was writing this song, That Life, I was imaging the same kind of ‘Where’s Waldo’ {Known as Where’s Wally? in most other countries} of contrasting scenes and multiple characters all engaged in that same perverse mixture of luxury, reverie, damnation, in the landscape of America. Somewhere on holiday under a vengeful sun”, and thus Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s latest official music video for ‘That Life’ was born. The sound itself isn’t too heavy or raw, and it feels quite warm and breezy instead, replicating more of a beach theme than a chaotic one. Key refrains like “All day swimming, Under the Palm trees, look how they gracefully sway” and “Some kinda gin drink/Some kinda jewelry/Some kind of fancy machine” are lyrics that muse over the small pleasures of life, the treats that people strive to achieve because they are perceived as wealthy and glamorous, and how expensive items represent grandeur that can be sometimes taken for granted by the upper class of society. The lovable, if greedy, puppet in the video proclaims that he’s always going to be about “That life” to a tuneful and radio-friendly chorus that feels cheerful and accessible. The fancy costumes also include multiple nods to outfits the band have worn on stage during certain points in their career too, and so there’s a decent amount of fan service hidden in the music video as well. The instrumentation goes for a pretty sentimental mix of 70’s Rock ‘N’ Roll that nods to bands like The Who gently, and some more contemporary Soul molded together by soulful hooks and funky guitar licks. Nielson’s vocals are also given some light distortion effects to evoke the classic rock vibe and make proceedings feel a tad psychedelic in tone too. There’s also a subtle nod to traditional Disco music in the steady groove too. Overall, I thought this was good. Probably not great, since I found the chords to sound a little dull and the lyrics rather predictable, but I like the idiosyncratic bridge and the visual inspirations behind the tune, so a lot of work clearly went into the graphical side of things. This is also one of the most memorable music videos that I have seen in quite some time too because it fits the overall vibe of the track very nicely while feeling a little nostalgic and quirky in mood. This is the type of music that I feel the likes of BBC Radio 2 should be playing regularly because it is quite universal to a wide audience without playing things too safely, but it’s easy to listen to. A decent commentary on life and perception of luxury.

Pictured: Unknown Mortal Orchestra in promotional art for ‘Multi-Love’ (2015) (Photo via DIYMag.com)

That’s it for today! Thank you a lot for your time, and I’ll be back tomorrow for ‘Scuzz Sundays’ with a post dedicated to one of the, very sadly, few female icons of the male-dominated 00’s Pop-Punk music scene that Scuzz TV, and Kerrang would have supported. The track comes from a cult favourite Gothic rock duo from Austin, Texas whose memorable frontwoman was featured in Guitar Player Magazine’s Top 20 Most Extraordinary Guitarists list – and whose music was used in MTV’s ‘Road Rules’ series.

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New Album Release Fridays: Helado Negro – “Outside The Outside”

October 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Far In’ (LP) (Released on October 22nd, 2021) (via 4AD)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘New Album Release Fridays’ is the time of the week where we unbox one of the most exciting new LP releases of the weekend, and this week’s line-up includes plenty of options to choose from. The likes of Elton John, Self Esteem, HONNE, JPEGMafia, Parquet Courts, Biffy Clyro and Don Broco are all releasing new albums today, but, for me, the Miami-born and New York-based Nu-Disco producer Helado Negro (the main alias of Roberto Carlos Lange) is the little artist who could. You may recognize his voice from ‘Close’, the closing track of Colombian electronic music producer Ela Minus’ album ‘Acts Of Rebellion’, which he was featured on last year. As a solo artist, Lange won the United States Artists’ Fellow In Music in 2019 and he was later the recipient of the 2019 Grants To Artists Award from the Foundation For Contemporary Arts. He was also the winner of the Joyce Foundation in 2015, so there’s plenty of critical acclaim under his belt. Lange has been producing a significant amount of musical and visual art work since he first became active in 2009 through various aliases, and he’s known for his non-conventional approaches to Avant-Pop while also expressing his Latinx identity and his pluralistic sensibilities. 2021’s ‘Far In’ is his seventh full-length solo album, and it is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘This Is How You Smile’ and 2016’s ‘Private Energy’, as well as his first record to be issued on the 4AD label. Born to Ecuadorian immigrants, the record explores his childhood anxieties of feeling like an outsider in his family’s community, and his road to finding a sense of belonging. Lange simply said, “Escape is never out there, you have to look inward”, in a press release. The notable single ‘Outside The Outside’ is married beautifully to a music video consisting of camcorder footage of his family’s South Florida house parties of the 1980’s, so let’s give it a listen.

“This is a song about intimate partnerships and long-loving friendships. To be loyal freaks and an outsider amongst outsiders”, he says about the standout single ‘Outside The Outside’, while adding, about the video, “My family came to this country as outsiders looking for and finding community. People would come to our house and bond through music, family and dancing. They usually began at 8 PM and lasted until 5 AM”, he says of the guests who would stay up all night to dance the Salsa or Merengue, before he concluded, “I used to wake up and it would be 7 AM in the morning and people would still be downstairs drinking”, with a laugh in a recent interview. I think it’s fair to say that this particular concept is alien to us Brits, and so ‘Outside The Outside’ does a great job of creating a late-night vibe with an infectious groove and calling to mind the alienation that Lange struggled handling when he was being raised as a South Florida native despite his rich descent. Lyrics like “There we were/Up all night/Terrified, kissing you twice” and “They were mine/Changed my life, I forgot to show you why” feel hushed and intoned, while the electronic Synths warping around these words feel Lo-Fi and Minimalist in production. The chorus is a simple one, while a touch of introspection touches the other lyrics, as if Lange is reminiscing over the innocence that he also used to feel at the parties while growing up, as he uses lyrics like “Because my world only opens/When your world comes in” to demonstrate these emotions, and discuss how a group of lost souls coming together has formed close relationships. While the lyrics are well-written and inspired enough, it’s also the instrumentation and production that makes the track come together so strongly like it does. The track has a dance music feel, yet it goes for a more reflective and nostalgic tone instead of a swooping and euphoric one, not relying on dancefloor-ready builds and festival-friendly basslines, and instead going for something more subdued and hushed. It feels like a nice platform for Lange’s crooning vocals to create a variety of moods from, while the glistening Disco melodies and the spiraling percussion feels melodic enough to dance along to, whether as a casual listener or a hardcore fan of his work. Overall, ‘Outside The Outside’ is a cracking single that confidently captures the feelings of fostering an environment that feels supportive and comfortable that have shaped the inspiration of Lange’s new album, and the only light we see is that of a dangling Disco ball on the house’s ceiling.

Pictured: Helado Negro performing for GRAMMY’s ‘Press Play At Home’ series (2021) (Photo via PR)

That is all for today! Thank you very much for joining me, and I’ll be back for more musical musings tomorrow. We’ll be listening to the latest single from the quirky indie New Zealand Psych-Pop group Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who have teamed up with the puppeteer of The Muppets and Sesame Street to produce their latest music video.

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Today’s Track: Vanishing Twin – “Phase One Million”

October 19, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Blue Vinyl Copy of ‘Ookii Gekkou’ (LP) (Released on October 15th, 2021) (via Fire Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and now is the time 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 about a different piece of music every day! I hadn’t heard of Vanishing Twin at all until I spotted ‘Phase One Million’ during a recent episode of The New Music Fix, but my research tells me that the Cathy Lucas-led London-based Psychedelic Pop Quintet are one of the few successful groups from the dwindling UK Psych market over the last half decade or so. Although based in London, their line-up features members from across the globe – from Italy to Japan – and this inspired them to explore their global influences when writing their fourth studio album – ‘Ookii Gekkou’ – during the worldwide lockdown months last year, by exploring shifting strands of Afro-Jazz and blending a melting pot of Afro-Jazz and Shoegaze to create a veritable concoction of sounds for the new record, which is the follow-up to 2019’s ‘The Age Of Immunology’, and it was finally released over the past weekend on Fire Records. The quintet’s sound instantly strikes the ears as a blissful combination between Khruangbin and Stereolab, and, according to Pitchfork, “The group’s cosmopolitan membership initially reflected its mission to synthesize psychedelic traditions around the globe, from Tropicalia to Kosmische Rock”, in their approach to non-traditional Pop-Jazz songwriting. Drummer Valentina Magaletti has previously worked with Bat For Lashes and Gruff Rhys on their Neon Neon project, while you might also know leading lady Lucas as a previous member of Fanfarlo. To promote the new record, Vanishing Twin will also be performing gigs in locations like Birkinhead, Edinburgh and Bristol in the coming weeks. Let’s spin ‘Phase One Million’.

The new album has been described by the group as “The sound of ordinary life under a different set of rules, in a place where it’s always night” in a press release, and the imaginative title of ‘Ookii Gekkou’ translates simply to ‘Big Moonlight’ in Japanese, an imaginative title for a record that is determined not to come across as fanciful, instead opting to go down the Stargazing Jazz route that may also draw comparisons to Air and The Comet Is Coming in terms of detailed sonic composition. ‘Phase One Million’ is a soft and rich single that builds up swiftly from an understated groove into something altogether more assured, with lyrics that glide smoothly between intrigue and meanderings. There’s a clear air of Trip-Hop about it throughout the laidback near 5-minute duration, which finds Afrobeat sparring with Electro-Soul in a way that finds the two wrapping up neatly like a comforting blanket, with ambience and Synths that dip into a slightly 80’s Synth Pop feel at very particular points. The percussion fits the visual theme vividly too, with some woozy Synth sequences and a hushed Cowbell melody that gently pulls us through to the end of the track with a confident ease. A set of poetic lyrics like “Lightning striking in the same place twice” and “We are looking for a sign” are contemplating brief ideas of nature and discovery with a light meander, as if we’re travelling through different locales at a brisk, yet otherwise relaxed, pace. It feels accessible in a peculiar way, and it certainly makes me think of acts like Portishead and the type of bands that Oklahoma label Colemine Records would usually promote in how the soothing elements of Disco and Afrobeat mould together in a generous Jazz dressing. In conclusion, ‘Phase One Million’ is an excellent single because it sounds laidback and easy to listen to, while never quite feeling bland due to the slightly more psychedelic and haunting tones that hold the different influences together tidily, and so there is a decent amount of variety to keep the repetitive soundscape from outstaying its welcome. An eclectic, cute, soft Pop hit.

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another day, and thank you for joining me on this journey. I’ll be back for a slice of something retro tomorrow with our weekly ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ selection, where we’ll be rediscovering a 70’s British Folk star who I came across on a recent installment of Cherry Red Records Radio. Her debut album was produced by the famous late BBC Radio 1 host John Peel, and she performed alongside other Art-Folk and Alternative Rock luminaries of the time like David Bowie and Nick Drake in her time on the festival circuit too. In 1974, she was voted as the fifth most popular female singer in that year’s Melody Maker readers poll.

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Today’s Track: Kozmodrum – “Wormhoooooooooole…”

August 23, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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Today’s Track: Fana Hues – “Lay Up”

May 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

She’s not one to heal a dreadful illness by basically just laying around. New post time!

Pictured: Fana Hues pictured for the “Icarus” music video premiere (2020) (Photo by Drew Robinson)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for you to read your daily musical diary entry on the blog, as per usual, since it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A 25-year-old Neo-Soul singer-songwriter from Pasadena, California – Fana Hues doesn’t only take up music as a passion or a profession, but as a tightly woven line of string that has been woven through her family tree. She’s one of nine siblings in a large family of musicians, and she had to battle illness to get to the spot where we find her today. When she was a child, she was diagnosed with Scarlet Fever, Tonsillitis and Strep Throat at the same time. It was up to her mother, who is a dancer, to concoct natural remedies and herbal elixirs that would eventually restore her voice, which was taken by illness. Now, her supporters include the US rapper-producers Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt, and, last December, she released her debut EP, ‘Hues’, seemingly as a joint venture between Sweet Virtue and Westminster Recordings. For some reason, it’s taken Hues until now to finally release a music video for ‘Lay Up’, the 6th in a series of visuals that Hues notes are “a deep sigh of relief after a dark time”. Check it out below.

For Hues, her debut EP collection is a series of tracks that ultimately focuses on the complexity and intricacy of human emotion in both a personal and universal way, as she notes in her press release, “I thought it was super important for me as a black woman to be open about that because so many times I feel like I’m not allowed to express my emotions. I’m kind of all over the place”, Hues says, “But there’s always a method to the madness. It’s all centered, it all has a purpose”, of her emotional experiences by growing up with music around her for all her life. ‘Lay Up’ feels peaceful and has a calming ambience, with a repeating Synth section that mimics the sounds of Doves chirping. Her vocal harmonies are long, and the beats are kept loose to dress everything up in a rap-like breakbeat. The lyrics are often explicit to a sexual degree, with lines like “I’ll rest on his face right in the mirror, And make sure you hear us, and them come and kiss ya” and “I rest on his face, We up at your place, You led me astray, What can I say” that sell the intensity of lust, and it’s difficult to tell whether these sexual scenarios are a rich expression of real-life experiences, or some scene of daydream fantasy playing out in her head. The melodies are melodic, with sparse helpings of R&B and Indie Pop which give the chorus of-sorts some ascension in the mixture, with “You set in ways that got my emotions all screwed up and dazed” coming across as a more catchy, rhythmic part of the structure. It’s otherwise a chilled out affair of Madlib-like sampling and softly funky guitar licks, although I wouldn’t say that it’s particularly mellow, but more mid-tempo. It’s all sounding good, on the whole. Her interesting backstory makes me feel drawn to her as an artist, and it has the vibe of “Corinne Bailey Ray, but good” for me. Remember her? An inspiring human being, with a knack for creating an intriguing perspective for her art.

Pictured: Cover Art for “Hues” (LP) (Released on Dec 11, 2020) (via Sweet Vine/Westminster Recordings)

That’s all for now! Join me again for more tomorrow, as we focus our attention to one of the bigger Electronic music releases of the past weekend. Tomorrow’s serving of song comes from a Cardiff-born DJ and Ambient Music producer who initially spent years of her life trying to hack her target of becoming a Pop singer. Now based in London, she is the co-founder of the Femme Culture label that she runs alongside DJ Saint Ludo. 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/