Today’s Track: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – ‘The Way It Shatters’

April 30, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Endless Rooms’ (LP/Album) (Available from May 6th, 2022) (via Sub Pop Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to return to my writer’s table as we get invested in 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 Melbourne-based 6-piece Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever emerged nine years ago with their subtle blend of 00’s Jangle-Pop and cheerful 60’s Surf-Rock – with not one, not two, but three guitarists amongst their line-up. They have now earned an established profile with popular LP releases like 2018’s ‘Hope Downs’ and 2020’s ‘Sideways To New Italy’ since those years, along with a top 5 entry on the UK’s Physical Singles Chart. They have earned acclaim from sites like Triple J, Pitchfork, Noisey, AllMusic, Pop Matters, Uncut, Far Out Magazine and others. They have also gained awards attention from the AIR Awards, Australian Music Prize, Music Victoria Awards, J Awards and National Live Music Awards as well. The typical two-year cycle between album releases is up for them, so we’re naturally getting their third album – ‘Endless Rooms’ – next month. It arrives on May 6th via Sub Pop Records/Ivy League Records, and it has been described by the group as “almost an anti-concept album“, with the title reflecting, “our love of creating worlds in our songs. We treat each of them as a bare room to be built up with infinite possibilities“, according to the band. It’s automatically clear that free time was spent by the band to craft their new record during lockdown, as the lead single finds the band experimenting with Synths for the first time to add a fresh dynamic to their folk-inspired sound. Check out ‘The Way It Shatters’ – with the music video, which taps into the new LP’s darker themes – below.

“It’s about how ending up in your particular situation in life is the result of absolute randomness. If you happen to be born into wealthy Australia or happen to be born into a war zone in Syria. That’s just the way it shatters“, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever say about their album announcement and recent single, adding, “So it’s when this good luck is mistaken for a sense of pride in one’s self or their country they become confused and deluded about what’s important. It’s when those on the other side of the luck scale are completely othered and considered not worthy“, in their insightful description of it. Reflecting more of a night-time vibe than most of their previous efforts, ‘The Way It Shatters’ gets up to some speed with nimble and angular guitar melodies that fill the opening, as the soaring Synth stabs and the sharp, layered Drum melodies fill the rest of the space when they follow. Evident 00’s Jangle-Rock and 60’s Surf-Rock qualities are still there, due to how the band structure the track and how the vocals have an acoustic dynamic, but it feels more lively and energetic than before due to how the Synths play off the tension and mark a more expounded first step into electronic territory. There’s a slightly dissonant Keyboard line and an ascending bassline thrown in, and when all of these elements come together, they sound not very dissimilar to The Psychedelic Porn Crumpets or Deerhunter overall. While the hooks are quite mainstream-friendly and the progressions of the chords are pleasant, the lyrics reflect a slightly darker and a slightly more sinister spin to these proceedings. Lyrics like “It’s desolation by rote?/All around your home/If you were in the boat/Would you turn the other way?” deals with humanity and how we all find our own place within it. Later hooks like “Lost in a magazine town/It’s all falling up again and in my head, I tell myself/It’s all just a necessary evil” dig their fans into isolation habits and the fortune that favours some of us above others. It never feels over-produced, although clear signs that bigger producers have been set up with the band for tracks like these. There’s nothing here that I haven’t really heard before, however, it has a more gritty sound than 2020’s ‘Sideways To New Italy’ which I enjoyed and skews towards a decidedly 90’s Indie sound that gets a nostalgic quality across. Pleasing to fans of the band’s existing material, I also think ‘The Way It Shatters’ appeals nicely to fans of bands like Mumford & Son’s who operate in a similar genre, but have a slightly more known profile to them. A clean, solid track with catchy lyricism and progressive ideas.

Pictured: Fran Keaney (Lead Vocals/Acoustic Guitar), Joe White (Lead Guitar), Tom Russo (Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals), Joe Russo (Bass Guitar/Percussion) and Marcel Tussie (Drums) (2020) (Photo via Nick MC/DIYmag.com)

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever seemed really popular in 2020 and, as someone who likes to comment on the fuss, its only natural that we met before in the entries below:

‘She’s There’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/08/todays-track-rolling-blackouts-coastal-fever-shes-there/

‘Cars In Space’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/03/24/todays-track-rolling-blackouts-coastal-fever-cars-in-space/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Sideways To New Italy’ (LP) (Released on June 5th, 2020) (via Sub-Pop Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog because I appreciate that on a Saturday, much like the band, you must feel shattered. ‘Scuzz Sundays’ is back tomorrow, and we will be tying it into current affairs once again because the central band have just released their eleventh studio album. They are known for singles like ‘Last resort’ and ‘..To Be Loved’, and the following was used as the main theme song for WWE’s ‘Monday Night Raw’ TV show between 2006 and 2009.

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Scuzz Sundays: The Caesars – ‘Jerk It Out’

April 24, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Love for The Streets’ (LP) (Released on April 22nd, 2002) (via Virgin Records/Dolores)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to pay a visit to one of the old ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past with a new addition to our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library, given that it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Love For The Streets’ was released on April 22nd, 2002 via Virgin/Dolores as the third full-length LP effort for the Indie Rock band The Caesars, as they are most widely known, who were formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1995. Therefore, as of this week, the record has just celebrated its 20th anniversary. It makes for a really great opportunity for us to remember ‘Jerk It Out’ – the band’s most well-known track – that was taken as a single from the album. Following one re-issue in 2003 and another, more wider, re-release in 2005 – ‘Jerk It Out’ became an international success as it reached #8 in the UK Singles Chart and #70 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It is definitely one of those tracks that you have heard many times before, but you most probably have not heard it in ages or did not know who performed it because, admittedly, the group did not have much more impact on popular culture outside of their domestic market in the years after. The Caesars are also known by two other names, as they were originally known as Caesars Palace natively. However, they changed their name to The Caesars to avoid confusion with the famous Las Vegas-based hotel of the same name and, likely due to copyright, they are known as Twelve Caesars in Scandinavia. My head is spinning with confusion, so please do me a merciful favour and press ‘Play’ on the ‘Jerk It Out’ music video below.

‘Love For The Streets’ has actually been certified as Gold in sales in their native country of Sweden, and you may also remember their hit ‘Jerk It Out’ from a global advertising campaign for the old iPod models and the, now rather obsolete, iPad Mini products designed by the corporate tech giant Apple. An easy track to write about due to it being so straightforward, ‘Jerk It Out’ dives headfirst into the 00’s Garage-Rock revival trends with an outrageously catchy Keyboard/Synth hook that twists and turns ferociously, as the sharp yet undemanding Drums kick in and the spaced-out effects on the keyboard gives the track the swirling, dizzying vibe that has made it feel so memorable. The lyrics are incredibly laid back and clear cut, as hooks like “Wind me up, put me down, start me off and watch me go/I’ll be running circles around you sooner than you know” and “Because it’s easy once you know how it’s done/You can’t stop now, it’s already begun” convey the themes of perseverance and finding reward out of taking risks very evidently. A distorted organ sample and a gentle guitar solo, towards the end of the track, keep the mid-60’s Garage Pop quality from becoming too predictable, and the catchy lyrics are married to the unique Synth style fairly well. That is all there really is to write about the track because it is just a fun, but simple, piece of music that feels like it could have been recorded in 1966 by a Garage band in Ohio. It equally sounds like a rather basic band manifesto in writing a three-minute pop gem designed to be a hit in the charts, which doesn’t usually sit very well with me, but I give The Caesars the benefit of the doubt on ‘Jerk It Out’ because the track is well-produced in being filled with so many simple, but catchy, segments. While being pretty much the definition of a one-hit wonder, ‘Jerk it Out’ is still just good fun.

Pictured: Joakim Åhlund (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), César Vidal (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), David Lindqvist (Bass Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals) and Nini Keller (Drums/Percussion) (2003) (Photo via ACharts.co)

I think I’ve ‘Jerked’ out however much I can handle (No, I do not mean it like that, Rude) musically on the blog today, but thank you for continuing to support the site every day. I’ll be back tomorrow as we begin the final week of April with the diverse voice of a Los-Angeles based vocalist and violinist currently signed to Stones Throw Records known for her electric blending of African music and futuristic R&B. Earlier in the year, she headlined the Stones Throw showcase live event at South By Southwest.

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Today’s Track: Porridge Radio – ‘Back To The Radio’

April 8, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Dana Margolin (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Writer), Georgie Scott (Keyboard), Maddie Ryall (Bass Guitar) and Sam Yardley (Drums) in an official photoshoot to promote the release of ‘Every Bad’ (2020) (Photo via Last.fm)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to add some variety to your weekend with a review for a new track from a recent favourite with 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! I remember covering ‘Born Confused’ by Brighton-based indie rock band Porridge Radio in 2020 because I loved lead vocalist Dana Margolin’s interchangeable switches between moods on that track so dearly, and so I was chomping at the bit for more when I heard that the Secretly Canadian-signed band will shortly be releasing a new album – ‘Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky’ – on May 20th. This will be the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Every Bad’, an album that was nominated for the Mercury Prize and also appeared in year-end best lists compiled by Pitchfork, NME, Under The Radar, Stereogum, Paste and Brooklyn Vegan. During their time together, Porridge Radio have also appeared on The Guardian’s Top 40 New Artists of 2018 list and they have performed two great live sessions for Marc Riley’s show on BBC Radio 6 Music. Porridge Radio have also released three more singles since 2020 including a collaboration with LaLa LaLa and they have recently collaborated with Metronomy for a track taken from their latest LP ‘Small World’ that the group released in February. To co-incide with their upcoming album, Morgolin’s band of misfits will be embarking on a run of in-store performances and a UK tour to support their imminent release around the UK, kicking off in May and October, respectively. You can catch the band playing in Cambridge, Sheffield, Exeter, Nottingham, Leeds, Southampton and more locations throughout the year, with tickets now on sale. Check out the eclectic new single ‘Back To The Radio’ below.

“Back To The Radio feels like a huge introductory hello or a big ceremonial goodbye”, says the 4-piece’s leading lady Dana Margolin, who later adds, “The song grew out of a feeling of intense loneliness and being unprepared for what everybody was promising me was about to happen – and a strong desire to escape without knowing what I wanted to escape to. To me, there’s a huge feeling of catharsis in this song, of letting go and letting it sweep you away”, in a press release. ‘Back To The Radio’ finds the band gradually finding their flow with a tension-releasing string of static effects and chugging guitar riffs, as well as a slow groove of steady drums, with an outpour of lyrics like “Nothing’s the same and I swear that I’m haunted/It’s not fair to you, and it’s not what I wanted” and “I miss what we were, but you’ve closed yourself off to me/We sit here together, the same as we’ve always been” that present a scathingly honest depiction of quiet fears that slowly grow to become more frightening anxieties. It’s not an all-out, hyper melodic rock anthem designed for radio chart domination by any means, but it provokes some interesting thoughts on how we confront change and how we construct our own doubts for ourselves in a relatable way that builds up to an emotionally scattered finale that feels genuinely uplifting despite some stressed lyrics. An emotional call to arms where Margolin sings “Lock all the windows and shut all the doors and get into the house and lie down on the cold, hard floor” and “Talk back to the radio, think loud in the car, I miss everything now, We’re worth nothing at all” to the assist of the backing vocals from the rest of the band with a mood that ultimately releases a lot of tension despite the tension never properly going away, as such. It plays out in the tried-and-tested fashion of Porridge Radio, with a slightly euphoric feel within the final sing-a-long of a sweeping verse that plays off how Margolin has the unimitable gift of holding you hostage, as the listener, to her commanding presence as soon as she opens her mouth. Her fears are comparable to a stressed teenager, and so the track feels like a satisfying exploration of those situations where we feel everything all at once and have no idea how to handle all of it, in a sense. This feels witty at times, but the band are absolutely taking their message seriously. There is definitely an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to the track where it’s recycling the band’s usual shtick as opposed to innovating their sound very much, but it definitely plays to their strengths and creates the sense of clearing clouds that Margolin really conveys through her vocals and she is supported, as always, by a solid performance by the rest of the band, who add even more depth and substance to her interchangeable vocal delivery. It is nothing new, but it gets you warmed up for the album, because it captures the vibe that only they could release it.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky’ (LP/Album) (Available from May 20th, 2022) (via Secretly Canadian)

If you loved ‘Back To The Radio’, why not check out ‘Born Confused’ on the blog too?

‘Born Confused’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/11/todays-track-porridge-radio-born-confused/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Every Bad’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 13th, 2020) (via Secretly Canadian)

That’s all for today! Thank you for checking out the latest post on the blog, and I’ll be back tomorrow to take you through another weekly entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ as we remember the ghosts of Pop-Punk’s past with a signature track by a 90’s Glam Metal band that were previously led by Jerry Cantrell, who sadly left us in 2002. They have sold over 14 million records in the US and they have received eleven Grammy Awards nominations. They have also been ranked as the 15th ‘Best Live Band’ by Hit Parader.

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Today’s Track: Honeyglaze – ‘Female Lead’

April 7, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Anouska Sokolow (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Rhythm Guitar), Tim Curtis (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Yuri Shibuichi (Drums/Percussion/Occasional Backing Vocals) (2022) (Photo Credit: Holly Whitaker/DIYMag.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to cut to action on the set of another daily track on the blog, with a movie theme today, that helps me to fulfill my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! Born out of lead songwriter Anouska Sokolow’s “un-desire to be a solo act”, according to Red Light Management, Honeyglaze are an emerging indie rock trio based in Southern London who met officially at their first rehearsal together just three days prior to what would become a near-residency at The Windmill in Brixton, where bands like Black Midi and Squid have also found their footing. They have also performed at festivals including Green Man Festival, Fred Perry’s All Our Tomorrow’s Festival, Live At Leeds and Cardiff’s SWN Festival across the last couple of years too. Their debut studio LP is self-titled, and it will be coming out on 29th April 2022 via Speedy Wunderground, a Dance-influenced Post-Punk label that is, of course, partially run by well-respected producer Dan Carey. Pierre Hall, the A&R representative of the label, says “We’re so excited to announce Honeyglaze as our next proper signing to the label. We were blown away as soon as we heard their music, and then, furthermore, when we met them in person. It’s felt like such a natural partnership and they’ve created something really special. We can’t wait for the world to hear. Be prepared to fall in love”, about Honeyglaze’s music. The latest catchy single to be taken from their upcoming 11-track project is ‘Female Lead’, which gets accompanied by a music video that was directed by James Ogram and Sokolow herself, and it stars Jojo Macari, an actor who has also starred in Netflix’s ‘Sex Education’ TV series. Check out the pre-release offering below.

Honeyglaze will be performing headline gigs at venues in London, Portsmouth, Margate, Manchester and Hull throughout May in the UK, and it follows their support slots for Katy J Pearson and Wet Leg. Talking about the video for the track, Sokolow says, “Given that the song itself is so narrative heavy, we knew we wanted to make something with it’s own seperate story”, adding, “It started off with some ideas about duality and stolen identity. I had recently watched ‘Casablanca’ and that’s where we got the idea of this movie character coming to life and we ended up writing a full scene for a made-up, 50’s romance.”, in a press release. Tackling these themes of self-understanding and personal worth in the track itself, the trio back up Sokolow’s explorations of changing your appearance and feeling overwhelmed in your ambitions through the lens of flashy hair dye. Lyrics like “I put it in my black hair, and waited for an hour/But when I washed it out, oh, god, I’ve let my mother down” and “I look nothing like Madonna/More like an 80’s horror film/I’ll have to wear a hat, Until my golden hair turns black” are geared towards the witty side, but they provoke serious thoughts about how we view ourselves and compare ourselves to famous faces. The narrative builds up with soft vocals, steady drums, melancholic guitar riffs and delicate splashings of Bass that are kept simple and concise within the song’s short 2-minute runtime. The key lyrics are delivered to a vintage-leaning tune that was influenced by The Shangri-La’s, according to the trio themselves, and the buzz of the British narrative-based Pop songs that were all of the rage in the cinematic 60’s. They replicate the vibe well, while adding a ‘timeless’ feel to the track. The vocals sound pure and intimate, with a fragile mix of a spoken and haiku-like format to present what is being written between the lines with a rather direct sense of well-versed clarity. Although it is kept short and to the point, ‘Female Lead’ has enough depth and substance overall to spread its message of romanticized ideals and self-judgment through the temporal era of retro cinema. Who knows, going by this track record, maybe Honeyglze will put in a more Oscar-worthy performance in the future?

Pictured: Vinyl copy of’Honeyglaze’ (Self-Titled LP) (Available from April 29, 2022) (via Speedy Wunderground)

Thank you for checking out my latest post, and I look forward to bringing a new entry of ‘New Album Release Fridays’ to your eye line tomorrow, as we turn our attention to a multi-time Mercury Prize nominee who came out as non-binary in 2020. A breath of fresh air on the Spoken Word genre, they share one particular thing in common with Honeyglaze. They also had a residency at The Windmill in Brixton. Aside from music, they are a Sunday Times best-selling and Costa Book Of The Year-nominated author.

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Today’s Track: Porij – ‘Figure Skating’

March 14, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: ‘Eggy’ (Lead Vocals/Keyboard), ‘Tommy’ (Rhythm Guitar/Occasional Backing Vocals), ‘Jammo’ (Bass Guitar/Percussion) and ‘Tom’ (Drums/Occasional Backing Vocals) (in July 2021) (Photo via The Guardian/PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke here – and it’s time for me to kick off another long week’s worth of daily track posts on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Porij are back with ‘Figure Skating’, their first new track of 2022, and it warms me up for what’s shaping up to be yet another hectic and engaging year for the Manchester Art-Pop collective – who were formed by Eggy (Vocals/Keys), Tommy (Guitar/Vocals), Jammo (Bass/Percussion) and Tom (Drums/Vocals) when they studied and stayed together at The Royal Nothern College of Music. They explore a fluidity between genres such as House, Liquid Drum ‘N’ Bass, Garage, New Wave and Lo-Fi Rock under the Indie Pop umbrella, with early covers of tracks originally from The Prodigy and Disclosure earning them attention from industry insiders. Porij have released a wide range of singles like ‘Nobody Scared’, ‘Can’t Stop’ and ‘Dirty Love’, some of which were also released on 2020’s ‘Breakfast’ and 2021’s ‘Baby Face’ EP’s, and a lot of these tracks have been selected for daytime airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music. Support has also poured in from ITV Granada, The Guardian, NME, DIY Mag and more including, since I haven’t forgot to mention, this very blog. As I mentioned, it’s looking like a restless year for Porij as they will be supporting Lynks, Metronomy and Obongjayar on tours throughout the year, playing a handful of solo headline gigs, and they will be performing at various music festivals in the summer months like Green Man and The Great Escape. The Winter Olympics may finally be over, but, for their latest track, Porij explore intimacy and immovability through ‘Figure Skating’. Let’s give it a spin below.

Porij – pronounced as ‘Porridge’ as you would expect – seemingly picked their name at random as an inside joke between the band’s original four members, and they recruited future touring partner Lynks to show off his ice figure skating skills in the music video for their most recent track. The band break ‘Figure Skating’ down by saying, “Figure Skating is about intimacy and sensuality in moments that aren’t overtly sexual”, in a press release, explaining, “It’s appreciating romance in the day to day, not the big dramas or passions but the kind of stuff that’s put in a montage in a film. It’s an insight into a secure relationship and explores the moments that are beautifully average, but somehow turn out to be the best bits”, in the note. Starting off with humming synths that evoke a Horn-like texture, Porij take to the rink with soft and gliding vocals which convey the high level of trust and the rehearsed training that goes into a couples ice skating dance routine, with lyrics in the verses like “Crinkled eyes cut white and blue/When I tickle your elbow grease” that sound a little witty on paper while also toying with the close level of intimacy found in the warm textures of the euphoric synths and the right drum melodies. Lyrics like “Inverse, Focus/I’ll hold you down, just you and me” and “Drifting past subconscious feel/Phaser building from within” achieve the similar effects of the Soulful vocals in the verses and chorus, while Eggy’s post-chorus croon of “Skin lying under me” glides seamlessly above the more high tempo percussion. The bassline has the driving melodies and the lyrical determination of a modern dance track, but their croons keep the tone feeling very warm and more grounded in emotive qualities throughout the 4-minute number. Overall, ‘Figure Skating’ just shows Porij getting even better and better, and they were already fairly good to begin with. The track embraces dance music culture, but the band never forgets the inward ideas of intimacy and profound deepness in which they shaped the songwriting and production around. I was simply along for the skate.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Baby Face’ (EP) (Released on September 22nd, 2021) (via Oat Gang Records)

If ‘Figure Skating’ finds you scavenging for more of Porij, you can check out some of their other tracks on the blog below:

‘Can’t Stop’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/11/30/todays-track-porij-cant-stop/

‘Nobody Scared’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/06/15/todays-track-porij-nobody-scared/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Nobody Scared’ (Single) (Released on April 21st, 2021) (via Oat Gang Records)

That brings us to the end of another blog post for today! Thank you for checking out my little musing and thank you for sparing a moment of time out of you day to show some support for independent creatives like Porij and myself today. I’ll be back tomorrow for something a little bit different as we take a listen to some contemporary classical music from another Manchester-formed act who were shortlisted for the Mercury Prize in 2014. They are currently signed to Blue Note Records, and their most recent single is their first to feature drummer Jon Scott, who replaced Rob Turner in December 2021 for their line-up. They will play at Cambridge’s Junction in November.

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Today’s Track: Warpaint – ‘Champion’

March 5, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Emily Kokal (Co-Lead Vocals/Backing Vocals/Guitar/Keyboard/Synths), Jenny Lee Lindberg (Bass Guitar/Co-Lead Vocals/Backing Vocals), Theresa Wayman (Co-Lead Vocals/Backing Vocals/Guitar/Electronics) & Stella Mozgawa (Drums) (2022) (Photo via MuzPlay.net)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Warpaint – the Los Angeles, California native indie rock band comprised of Emily Kokal, Stella Mozgawa, Theresa Wayman and Jenny Lee Lindberg – have just announced their first new full-length album in six years, finally confirming ‘Radiate Like This’ as the long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s ‘Heads Up’, which they will be releasing through Heirlooms and Virgin Records on May 6th. It has been a long time, but in their original run, they released three critically acclaimed studio albums including 2010’s ‘The Fool’, which included their essential track ‘Undertow’, as well as their 2014 self-titled LP outing. Warpaint supported Harry Styles for some live tour dates in Asia during 2018, and they also supported Foals on tour in Australia during 2019. They have performed at a wide variety of festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Coachella and Reading & Leeds Festival, and the beloved band have also performed at the prestigious Hollywood Bowl amphitheater. You will have also heard their track ‘Lilys’ if you’ve seen the HBO-produced TV series ‘Made For Love’ too. Details for ‘Radiate Like This’ are a little scarce, but given how we are picking up where we left off with ‘Heads Up’ from over a half-decade ago, the results are exciting. Check out the lead single ‘Champion’ below.

‘Champion’ promises that Warpaint will explore the concept of intimacy and energy more passionately than ever before. The new single is about “being a champion to one-self and for others”, according to the 4-piece in a new press release, who explain, “We are all in this together, life is too short not to strive for excellence in all that we do”, together, in their collective statement. A little more Dream Rock-influenced than some of the other material from Warpaint that I’ve heard, ‘Champion’ finds Theresa crooning some poetic lyrics like “I’m a million years old/I’m a champion” and “I’m an ocean/breathing in and out” to the soulful tune of their typically harmony-driven vocal style, which they perfected on rough-edged singles like 2010’s ‘Undertow’, but they are met with a more hypnotic and gloomy style than before, while they also deliver stern lyrics like “I hope you figure out/Everything you’re on about” that feel smooth and quite intuitive. There’s less of an emphasis on a ‘live feel’ and it is more driven towards putting their in-studio techniques to use, as the band retain their moody undercurrents that characterize some of their prior work while drifting towards some richer and more detailed dream-pop production, where the synths are calling across the horizon and the guitars keep stretching beyond the tropes of guitar rock. This reminds me of The XX, but there was a hint of Post-Punk towards the home stretch where the guitar briefly revved up before we abruptly went back to the modulated vocals and the reverb-assisted percussion that had a strange affinity for grooves during the verse. The track sounds well-produced, without feeling like it was over-produced at any point to me. The lyrics tap into inner strength and the faults of high levity, while the electronic enhancements make the instrumentation feel rich and atmospheric. Overall, ‘Champion’ is a well put together and cohesive comeback single that shows some progression and evolution for Warpaint as we move forwards.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Radiate Like This’ (LP) (Available from May 6th, 2022) (via Heirlooms/Virgin Records)

That brings us to the end of the page for today! Thank you lots for your continued support, but I’ve got to be off now because I’m hopefully visiting my sister (and leaving the village in the process, which is a fairly rare occasion for me), and so I’ll be catching up with you tomorrow. Join me then for a new entry of the ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature, where we’ll be remembering a Karaoke favourite from a Canadian rock band led by vocalist Chad Kroeger who, despite becoming something of a punching bag for the snobbish ones in the 00’s, have recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of their third full-length LP record ‘Silver Side Up’ that was certified as 8x-Platinum in Canada.

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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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Way Back Wednesdays: The Charlatans – ‘You’re Not Very Well’

March 2, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Tim Burgess (Lead Vocals/Harmonica/Piano), Mark Collins (Pedal Steel Guitar), Martin Blunt (Bass Guitar) and Tony Rogers (Keyboard/Organ/Flute/Mellotron/Percussion) (2017) (Photo Credit: Andy Richardson)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to revisit one of the seminal sounds of the past for another weekly entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on the blog, which fits my goal of writing up about a different piece of music every day! If I’m being wholly transparent with you, I wasn’t quite born yet when the ‘Madchester’ or ‘Baggy’ mini-movements began here in the UK, and so it’s thanks to my Dad and the records that he used to play in the car that I really have as much significant knowledge about the time that I still do. Although not quite one of the most chart-bothering bands of the time, like The Stone Roses and Ocean Colour Scene perhaps were, The Charlatans are still an active rock group who boasts the mid-pandemic Twitter hero Tim Burgess as their ringmaster, who have released thirteen albums to date. A set-closer that was the opening track of their debut album, ‘Some Friendly’, released in 1990 – ‘You’re Not Very Well’ is just one of the recordings that helped their debut album to enter the UK Albums Chart at #1. Introduced to the industry by the visual programming wonders of ITV’s ‘The Chart Show’, a still-lamented show, The Charlatans have scored hits like ‘The Only One I Know’ and ‘Then’ that reached the Top 15 in the UK. Let’s see them perform it at Manchester’s The Ritz from 1990 below.

The story behind 1990’s ‘Some Friendly’ is a well-documented one, since the record suffered from all sorts of production issues during the time of development. The recording sessions near Wrexham, Wales were awkward because ‘Burgess and buds’ fell out with the owners of the studio. The label executives were very keen on pushing them, and they wanted the band to record the album’s tracks despite them not having wrote many of them, and Burgess didn’t have the opportunity to stockpile songs beforehand. In spite of this, it still received great reviews from journalists and the record has been certified as ‘Gold’ in UK sales, and so that’s an achievement, whether it’s down to coincidence or raw fate is another dilemma. Opening track ‘You’re Not Very Well’ got the 90’s LP off to a start with prominent Organ stabs and repeating Bass hooks, with willful lyrics like “I don’t like all these sharks in the city/They don’t do much for me anyway” and “There’s that car that I used to swerve/This town traffic is knocking me over” that talk about how you can outgrow your surroundings while reflecting on the nostalgic moments that you’ve enjoyed within a certain area, as Burgess goes back and forth on his feelings regarding the people that he has met and the time that he has spent while growing up, with lyrics like “One step forward into mine/Faking pictures and opening doorways” and “Intervene and you privatise/Health is health and I don’t know about it” that each express anything but warm, sunshine-filled sentiments. There’s splashings of the slide guitar here and there to follow the Brit-Pop trends of the time while following an undercurrent of Funk as an influence. It is not necessarily steady on it’s feet as an overall piece, but ‘You’re Not Very Well’ is very pointed and it has a 1960’s Beat Groove with plenty of ‘Baggy’-ness and ‘Madchester’ elements to it that ensures that Burgess and his band-mates are delivering their instrumentation and vocals with a decent amount of cadence. An eclectic 90’s track that feels decent, if not particularly classic, which laid out a diverse, rhythmic framework for The Charlatans for decades to come.

Pictured: Tim Burgess performing with The Charlatans at Picnic In The Park (2019) (Photo by Rune Hellestad-Corbis)

If you are looking for some more catchy melodies by The Charlatans, then you need to look no further than my blog. Here is my take on The Charlatans’ 90’s classic ‘The Only One I Know’: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/28/way-back-wednesdays-the-charlatans-the-only-one-i-know/. You can also check out some of Tim Burgess’ solo work by giving ‘Empathy For The Devil’ a spin here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/29/todays-track-tim-burgess-empathy-for-the-devil/.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Some Friendly’ (LP) (Released on September 8th, 1990) (via Beggars Banquet Records)

That’s all of the time that I have got for now! Thank you for revisiting some ‘Baggy Brilliance’ with me today, and I’ll be back at it again tomorrow with new music from a ‘Post-Punk Poet’ who has often been featured on the blog before and she topped my ‘Best EP’s of 2020’ list that was published two years ago. She has toured with The Brian Jonestown Massacre across the UK and Ireland, and she has recently been working with Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey as her producer. She will finally be releasing her highly-anticipated debut LP record in June through Chess Club Records.

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Scuzz Sundays: The Verve – ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’

February 27, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Richard Ashcroft (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar/Keyboard/Percussion/Kazoo), Nick McKabe (Lead Guitar/Accordion), Simon Jones (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals) and Peter Salisbury (Drums) (2008) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to revisit one of the Pop-Punk ghosts of the late-90’s for another installment of ‘Scuzz Sundays’, as we remember what the Brit-Pop scene had to offer at the time for yet another daily track on the blog, since it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Active between 1990 and 1999 – with a reunion in the mid-00’s – The Verve fit squarely into the Brit-Pop movement that introduced bands like Oasis, Supergrass and Coldplay to the world at a nifty convenience. However, in 1997, they proved that rock music could get very emotional. Having appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, won an impressive number of BRIT Awards and issued one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history with 1997’s ‘Urban Hymns’, the band were able to reduce most of their fans to tears when the familiar sound of ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ was ringed out across the packed out stages of V Festival and Live At Reading. Ranked as #7 on Channel 4’s list of the ‘100 Greatest Number 1 singles’, the sombre sound of the single unintentionally captured the mood of the nation when the beloved Princess Diana died because it was released the very day after it had occurred. Featured on ‘Urban Hymns’, the single went straight to the top of the UK Singles Chart and it remains popular, having been placed at #78 on the ‘150 Best Tracks Of The Past 15 Years’ list that NME compiled in 2011. The music video carries on from the iconic street set-up of ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ as the beginning of the piece shows Ashcroft and his band-mates walking across the same street, with the events directly following the prior video. It’s nice to see a level of inter-connectivity there and we rarely see it now. Have a box of tissues at the ready and stream it below.

“Whenever we played that live, there would be rows of grown men crying”, Ashcroft said of the somber tone of the single, as per FreakyTrigger.co.uk, describing, “It was almost like these guys couldn’t cry when they needed to cry, but that song operated like a pressure valve for them and it was okay for them to cry at a big concert”, in an interview. Although often linked to a battle with recreational drug abuse, fans have also linked ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, which was reportedly written in 1995, with the passing of Ashcroft’s father, with the sensitive lyrics like “And I hope you’re thinking of me/As you lay down on your side” and “Now the drugs don’t work/They just make you worse/But I know I’ll see your face again” sounding like they could have been drafted together in Ashcroft’s mind as he sat beside his father in the hospital ward, and so these lyrics really pack a hefty punch given the bleak subject matter and Ashcroft’s promise to be re-united with him in the afterlife. The instrumentation isn’t really ‘Scuzz Sundays’ by nature, with a subtle String section and a steady guitar riff leading the downtempo melodies of the track, but it retains enough of the core elements of Rock music to meet that categorization, for the lack of a better term. Ashcroft was mostly known for throwing in some elements of Neo-Psychedelia into his motifs, but ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ was more intent on dragging him back to the inescapable darkness of life on Earth. The chorus seems arresting and personal, with refrains like “If you want a show/Just let me know/And I’ll sing in your ear again” that references a slightly chemical-defined relationship with his dad while nestling the smaller sequences into a bleaker, larger narrative and Ashcroft illustrates a maze with a loss of direction as he conveys a mixture of confusion and exhaustion, with the most profound note of hope, with his emphasized vocals. Overall, I am one of the most cold-hearted people out there, and even I can feel a light touch coming out of the screen of my laptop when I hear ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ because Ashcroft pales back his ‘rock god’ style of persona for a new spin on Pop-Punk and Brit-Pop where he feels intimate and learning about the track’s authorized subject use, beyond the obvious associations of drugs or chemicals, can really improve your relatability with it. Chilled yet very somber – ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ is brutal enough to make a grown man cry.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Urban Hymns’ (LP) (Released on September 29th, 1997) (via VC/Hut Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out my latest weekly entry of ‘Scuzz Sundays’ today, and I’ll be back tomorrow to start off the new week as we remember one of the most crucial releases from February as we shortly creep into March. It comes from a Japanese-American songwriter who releases her music on the Dead Oceans label, and The Guardian named her as the “best young songwriter” in the United States when her latest solo album – ‘Laurel Hell’ – was released and quickly entered the top ten chart of the UK, the US, Australia and Ireland earlier in the month.

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Today’s Track: Metronomy – ‘Things Will Be Fine’

February 26, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Small World’ (LP) (Released on February 18th, 2022) (via Because Music)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and I’m here to add a music-related pleasantry to your weekend with another nice and simple 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! Today, we’re checking with the indie pop veterans Metronomy who have been surviving since the 00’s with a range of electronic recordings that have always been grounded and progressive, and they have made previous appearances on the blog with ‘405’ (feat. Biig Piig) and ‘Salted Caramel Ice Cream’ as they hold the status of being a safe pair of hands. A 5-piece led by Joe Mount, they have remixed countless artists including Kate Nash, Sebastien Teller, Lady GaGa, Gorillaz, Franz Ferdinand and more. You may have also heard several collaborations involving the likes of Robyn, Nicola Roberts, Spill Tab, Brian Nasty and Sorry that Metronomy have co-created over the past two decades. Following 2019’s ‘Metronomy Forever’ and last year’s ‘Posse: Volume 1’ EP – the Rober Awards Music Poll-winning band have just released their seventh studio album – ‘Small World’ – via Because Music. With a positive score of 74/100 on review aggregate site Metacritic, Metronomy describe the fresh LP as an exploration of peace, serenity and simple nature. It also features a new collaboration with Porridge Radio, and Joe Mount notes, “I’ve been remembering what it was like as a kid when I’d be sitting in the backseat of my parents’ car and they’d be playing their music and I’d think “this is awful”, but there’d be one or two songs I would like. I thought it would be fun to make that kind of album”, in the press release for the LP. The final pre-release single was ‘Things Will Be Fine’, that was accompanied by a retro-themed music video that was put together by Metronomy themselves and the directors of Thibaut Caesar and Juliet Casella. Let’s give it a spin.

‘Small World’ is a record influenced by the roots of the period of time that it was written and recorded in, meaning 2020 and the rippling effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and other news events, and Metronomy will be taking their new tracks on the road during a UK and Ireland tour that begins in April, with the band stopping off at locations in Dublin, Oxford, Torquay, Glasgow, Bristol and each of the normal other places. Plugging into live acoustic instruments and percussion, such as the gliding guitar notes that open up the track and the Bongo drums that add some cheerful melodies to the chorus, for ‘Things Will Be Fine’, the band focus on their hearts instead of their heads for the recent single and they bring the upbeat, quirky arrangement a new-found energy. Lyrics like “The sooner you tell someone, the better you will feel/So please, put your trust in me” touch upon the relief of discussing a complex problem with a loved one and mental health is a definite topic here, in this case. Other refrains such as “Just like the first time in that teenage misery/Yeah, I wish things were as easy” recall the brightness of the past and how life gets more intricate or cumbersome as it progresses, connecting to the overarching themes of the full-length album. It is a fairly basic and happy song in tone, but it plays into the conceit of unfettered hopefulness of seeing things play out when you worry and it’s difficult not to engage yourself in the joyful message, however generalised it may feel, that Metronomy seem intent on communicating when they leans towards nostalgic 80’s Dream-Pop and soft 70’s Disco for rhythmic inspiration, with sultry crooning from Mount as he states that his goal may be to “save the day” or “change the world” as he exclaims in the chorus. It admittedly does feel a little safe for my personal tastes and likely designed to fit squarely into the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist, but there’s a humble heart to the track and some radiant, firm pacing that broadly appeals with it. It feels like a great track to remind us that summer is on the way as we take a few tentative steps outside of the bitter, melancholic mood of the modern winter in the UK. ‘Things Will Be Fine’ retains their core values of the project while skillfully avoiding ‘twee’ categorization and teasing more mature directions for them as their collaborative career moves forwards. A simple and sweet, yet uplifting, single.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Metronomy Forever’ (LP) (Released on September 13th, 2019) (via Because Music)

Metronomy have been doing the rounds for quite a long while, and so they aren’t necessarily new to the blog. You can also check out how I felt about 2019’s ‘Salted Caramel Ice Cream’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/08/26/todays-track-metronomy-salted-caramel-ice-cream/. There’s also a post featuring 2021’s ‘405’ (feat. Bigg Piig) that you can visit here if you want more info about that track: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/10/09/todays-track-metronomy-feat-biig-piig-405/.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Posse Volume 1’ (EP) (Released on September 15th, 2021) (via Because Music)

That’s all for now! Thank you for checking out the latest post on the blog, as your continued support means a great deal to me, and I’ll be back tomorrow to turn to the dark side for another ‘Scuzz Sundays’ post, as we continue to broaden our horizons by mixing in some Post Brit-Pop with the US-based Pop-Punk bands of that specific timeline. We shall be revisiting a former 90’s UK #1 hit by Richard Ashcroft’s old group.

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