Today’s Track: Spiritualized – ‘Always Together With You’

January 3, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Jason Pierce (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar/Keyboard) (2018) (Photo via Juliette Larthe/Nasty Little Man)

Good Morning, it’s Jacob Braybrooke! How has your year been? It’s time for me to write up about yet another daily track on the blog, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This is the first of roughly 250 ‘Today’s Track’ on the blog aside from my other features in 2022, so I thought it was only fair to kick things off with a cosmic bang alike to a big meteor hitting a Volcano – or something not quite as dramatic as that. Either way, ‘Always Together With You’ is a fresh new single by Spiritualized that I’ve been hearing on the radio lately, and I really can’t get enough of it. Spiritualized is now the solo project of Jason Pierce (J. Spaceman) of former Spaceman 3 fame who was born in Rugby, Warwickshire. Spiritualized used to be a group featuring the likes of guitarist Doggen Foster, drummer Kevin Bales, keyboardist Tom Edwards and more, among a few line-up changes over the years. At the time, Spiritualized won NME’s ‘Album Of The Year’ award in 1997 by beating stiff competition like Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ and The Verve’s ‘Urban Hymns’ with their critically acclaimed album release ‘Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating In Space’ that year. Pierce’s ninth studio album under the Spiritualized project – ‘Everything Was Beautiful’ – has recently been announced with a release date of February 25th, 2022 via Fat Possum Records. On the new record, Pierce plays a staggering amount of 16 different instruments that he recorded in his home and in 11 different studios. More than 30 musicians, including Pierce’s former band-mate John Coxon and his daughter Poppy, will also appear on the new album. Penned during lockdown, Pierce says the album was written in a state of embracing the isolation while viewing it as a “beautiful solitude” and noting “I felt like I’d been training for this my whole life”, as per a press note. Let’s check out the opener below.

“There was so much information on it that the slightest move would unbalance it, but going around in circles is important to me. Not like you’re spiraling out of control, but you’re going around and around and around and on each revolution, you hold onto the good each time”, states Pierce – who will be taking his Spiritualized act on the road for tour dates beginning with North American gigs running through April – adding, “Sure, you get mistakes as well, but you hold on to some of those too and that’s how you kind of… achieve. Well, you get there”, in his own words. Thankfully for Pierce, his new single begins with pin-point precision by kicking off with a whirring Synthesizer loop and a settling, if distant, voice amid the soft strums of the guitar melodies and the spacious backing vocal that feels ragged in delivery. Simple lyrics like “If you will be my lonely girl/I would be a lonely boy for you” and “If you want another world, I would be another world for you” make up the fragmented soundscape as discordant yet lightly textured Post-Punk bass guitar riffs and hard-edged Drum beats quicken the pace of the swelling sounds. The vocals are layered yet forceful and the quietly shimmering backdrop of diverse sounds make for a detailed but fairly grounded arrangement. Towards the end, a sudden crescendo of Strings set to lyrics like “If you walk the galaxies/I would walk the galaxies for you” and “Always together with you/If you’ve got a lonely heart” that transforms the brief moonlight of his vocal textures in the early going into more full-blown Space Rock as Pierce gathers up his dreams and allows the themes of high romance and space opera to collide more fully. Lonesome yet humble, Pierce looks inwards while gazing upwards with this beautiful new tune that feels beautifully textured and carefully produced with thoughtful pacing choices to the point where the peak cinematic explosion between Psychedelic Pop and slightly classical Rock feels astounding. This is an artist who clearly knows what he’s doing, and the new single is a very effective teaser for a pretty and intricate new album exploring heartache and tranquility with a sense of grandeur that will hopefully be met promptly. A fantastic single that could only be Spiritualized.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Everything Was Beautiful’ (LP) (Available on February 25th, 2022) (via Bella Union)

Thank you for journeying into a galaxy of new music with me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for our second best regular post of the year so far with an intriguing Alternative Punk track that I recently found through KEXP’s ‘Song Of The Day’ podcast recorded by a Manchester-based band with over 2.3k monthly listeners on Spotify. The 4-piece’s producer and third member – Liam Stewart – has toured with Lonelady.

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Today’s Track: The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – ‘Queen Sophie For President’

December 29, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Illusory Walls’ (LP) (Released on October 8th, 2021) (via Epitath Records)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, of course, and it is time to get your ears stuck into 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! *deep breath* The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die are an emo Prog Rock band with what must be the longest band title in the business and, yet, in a digital age of streaming services and IP resurgences, they must also be applauded for ending their latest album on two epic pieces that total half of it’s near 70-minute duration. Their fourth LP record – ‘Illusory Walls’ – is the record in question, an underground release that took its inspiration from the infamously difficult ‘Dark Souls’ series of popular role playing video games. Bridging the gap between genres like Space Rock, Atmospheric Rock, Post-Hardcore and Post-Rock, the Emo collective have released a number of EP’s and Splits, including a memorable collaboration with Christopher Zizzamia, a Spoken Word artist, and they cite a diverse range of influences including Battles, Caspian, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions In The Sky for their fretwork-style material. A double album released via veteran Nu-Metal label Epitath Records, the new LP is the band’s first album since the death of founding member Tom Diaz and the departures of guitarists/vocalists Dylan Balliet and Tyler Bussey. Now, the members of the 5-piece are split between the bear-filled woods of rural Connecticut and the quarantines streets of Covid-ridden Philadelphia, and it is the band’s first project that recruits outside producers in the form of Greg Thomas (Misery Signals, End), the studio partner of lead vocalist/guitarist David F. Bello, who helped the rest of the band to remotely write and finish the ambitious record within the most part of one year. According to Bello, the new album’s title of ‘Illusory Walls’ “refers to a hidden surface that seems to prevent entry, but upon inspection is nothing more than a visual illusion”. Check out the third single ‘Queen Sophie For President’ below.

Elaborating on the LP’s development stages, Bello says, “The extra time gave the band time to manage the unexpected, such as Katie Dvorak sustaining an injury that meant she was unable to sing or talk for a couple of months at the end of 2020. Had they been on a normal recording schedule, she wouldn’t have been able to get her vocals done”, concluding, “Instead, she was able to channel what happened into her songs. Though ‘Queen Sophie For President’ is ostensibly about the tenacity of oppression, whether on a personal or political level, it is heavily influenced by her injury” in his press statement. While ‘Queen Sophie For President’ scales up the bombast, it also puts a twist on the band’s sad emo-style foundations of their sound by introducing vocals that feel lighter and nostalgic, thanks in part to the keyboardist taking on the lead vocal duties. Lyrics like “Impossibly persistent, waiting for the chance to take over” have a dizzying darkness to them and they blend into Chris Teti’s intricate guitar work with a pulsating 80’s rock sound. A wide array of evocative lyrics like “Never get better and never do anything” chime the chorus along with a feeling of urgency, while rapid-fire refrains like “It won’t burn with the oven off/That damn persistent slime, just burn the whole house down” owe more to Opera Rock with their haunting harmonies that permeate angst and anxiety, riddling the zoned-out Synths of the soundscape with a deep flavour of hard-hitting songwriting that is more anthemic. Instrumentally, the barreling guitar riffs and the percussive drum beats, topped off by a punchy lead guitar solo towards the end, retain their warmth and intimate nature while delivering highly technically proficient production all-around. Most of all, however, it is the fact that Dvorak’s increased involvement threatens to steal the show at times that makes it all more worth the while, and it is the very robust chemistry between Dvorak and Bello, on vocals, which clicks together and strikes the biggest chord with me – if you see what I did there. Dvorak’s sugar-coated vocals blend together with Bello’s emotional croon, as well as the fancy handiwork from guitarist Chris Teti, very cohesively. This creates some of the most enjoyable ‘Jam Band’ moments that you could hear in 2021. An extravagant piece of ferocious Jangle-Pop meets sophisticated Post-Rock, ‘Queen Sophie For President’ is a tour-de-force of feel-good indie and profound lyrical proportions that definitely gets my vote.

Pictured: David Bello (Lead Vocals/Percussion), Katie Dvorak (Keyboard/Synths/Backing Vocals), Josh Cyr (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals), Chris Teti (Trumpet/Lead Guitar) & Steven Buttery (Drums) (2021) (Photo by Adam Peditto)

That’s all I’ve got lined up for you on the blog today – and I’ll be back tomorrow with the final part of my series shedding light on some of this year’s most unforgettable underground releases, before we go fully back to normal, with a post regarding a band who have made many year-end lists for 2021. Signed to Saddle Creek Records, the trio take their name from a Spanish Drama film of the same title released in 1973.

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Today’s Track: Rachel Lime – “Voyager 3”

June 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

Hello – from the children of the planet Earth. Time to get intergalactic for a new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “A.U.” (LP) (Released on June 11th, 2021) (via Inside Voices)

Greetings and good evening to you, it’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We are going cosmic today – with ‘Voyager 3’ from the fresh new Minnesota-based singer-songwriter Rachel Lime, who makes sample-enhanced music in the wheelhouse of Alternative Pop, Chamber-Pop and Electronic Rock, and her PR’s artist biography on Bandcamp and Spotify simply reads as “Music in search of other worlds”. She released her debut solo album, ‘A.U.’, last week through Inside Voices, the new label managed by the Big Bld founder and High Pulp drummer Rob Granfett. It follows a span of her career where she has dropped music on her Soundcloud account quietly for the last decade or so, and her own musical journey began when she decided to learn how to play the Piano at the age of 7. The influences for the record go beyond music, with Lime noting the work of astronomer and author Carl Sagan, especially on his 1985 novel ‘Contact’, as her inspirations. Like The Avalanches have explored on their latest material, Lime also looked to NASA’s Golden Voyager record for her theme, a record put into space in the hopes of extraterrestrial life learning about humanity by unveiling it. Let’s check out Alan De Lean-Taverna’s music video for ‘Voyager 3’ below.

“I wrote this song inspired by the tradition of space disco, and the Voyager golden record, sent into space with Voyager 1 and 2 by NASA”, Rachel Lime told Jasmine Albertson in a recent interview with KEXP, adding, “This interstellar message in a bottle has always really moved me. This idea of humanity trying desperately to communicate itself to Someone Out There, to attempt to connect, to prove that we have created beautiful things”, when expanding on the driving forces behind her process of writing the tune and co-producing the storyboards for the music video. It opens with the iconic sample from the Golden Voyager record, and the greeting of ‘Annyeonghaseyo’ in Korean where Lime has her heritage. A soulful keyboard riff that feels woozy and off-key sets the scene, as lyrics like “I sing a song in a bottle, I give it to the interstellar waves” and “The future’s nice/In the starlight” permeate through the synth-led beats with disorienting vocal effects. The vocals feel almost sensual and flirtatious, or alien and unusual, with interludes which see Congo drums and guitar instrumentals fill the space. The production feels merticulous and tinkered away at, with a slower bridge that finds Lime wishing, “We want to make contact/We gave you a code to break” as the rhythm slowly builds it’s way back to the retro-futurist Keys and the virtuosic Drums that scatter along the undeniably 80’s bassline. It feels paced similarly to a dance track, with different instruments and effects that have their turns, and are each built to gradually. This works really nicely because it gives the total aesthetic a quirky edge, and this makes Lime feel memorable amongst her peers. I’m certain that an alien would love a jive in the kitchen to this. If they ever find it. That is.

Pictured: Rachel Lime in the music video for “Voyager 3” (in 2021) (Photo by Alan De Leon Taverna)

That’s it for today’s trip! Don’t forget to join me again tomorrow where, as it’s Friday, we’ll be looking at one of the most notable new album releases of the weekend. We’ll be giving the opportunity to a 20-year-old singer-songwriter making her own Art-Pop music from the suburb of Little Ferry, New Jersey. Born to a Mexican father and a Dominican mother, her new album is based on her love for 80’s-era Michael Jackson. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Public Service Broadcasting (feat. EERA) – “People, Let’s Dance”

June 12, 2021 — Leave a comment

Don’t adjust your TV sets – this isn’t British Broadcasting Corporation. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Bright Magic” (LP) (Available from September 24, 2021) (via Play It Again Sam)

Good Morning to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here, and it’s finally time again for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, as per usual, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! The oddball London cult band of experimental Art-Rock archival samplers Public Service Broadcasting are back to follow-up on their standout BBC Proms 2019 performance of ‘The Race For Space’ with details of a new album. Having composed music about the Welsh coal mining industry and the White Star Line shipping company on their last two records, ‘Bright Magic’ is a depiction of Berlin as a European metropolis. The band’s J. Willgoose says their new LP record aims to capture the city’s essence, both figuratively and literally, with the use of an electromagnetic receiver on one track to record the pulses of street lamps and electrical cables. It releases on September 24th through Play it Again Sam. A UK tour has also been confirmed for the autumn, starting at Cardiff’s University Great Hall on October 24th and finishing at The Cambridge Corn Exchange on November 11th. Listen to the EERA-featured ‘People, Let’s Dance’ below.

J. Willgoose says that ‘Bright Magic’ is split into three acts of ‘Building A City’, ‘Building A Myth’ and ‘Bright Magic’, and the record even features guest vocals from Einstürzende Neubauten leader Blixa Bargeld on one track. According to J. Willgoose, “I knew the album was going to be about the city, and it’s history and it’s myths, and I was going to move there. So, it’s quite a personal story. It’s become an album about moving to Berlin to write an album about people who move to Berlin to write an album”, in his tongue-twister of a publicity statement. ‘People, Let’s Dance’, the lead single, is a dance-oriented electronic recording that veers it’s head in two directions. For the most part, it calls back fondly to the Motorik synth sounds of Kraftwerk and Visage from the past eras of metropolitan sci-fi music tech. For the second part, however, there are clear echoes to playful 80’s Synthpop and 90’s club anthems, particularly with the lead guitar riff that was sampled from Depeche Mode’s ‘People Are People’. It’s a rare instance for PSB to feature a guest vocalist, but the use of German vocals from Ninja Tune-signee EERA add a perceived sense of authenticity to the multicultural and European-inspired Electronica sound. It’s a surprisingly groovy and deliberately mechanical sound, with the weird absence of archival voice samples for PSB being replaced by more multi-layered instrumentation, where driving Drum melodies and evolving Keyboard patterns gradually adding new layers to the Bass-driven soundscape. EERA’s sections, a mix of Spoken Word lyrics and overlapped singing keep warping themselves around the 80’s guitar interventions and the glacial warmth of the vocals. I could bet you money that a car manufacturer will license the track for an advert in the near-future, and it sounds a lot like The Chemical Brothers in it’s sample work and the guest spot from EERA. It’s an evolution of sound for PSB that takes clear influence from other acts, and that had left me a little lukewarm about it initially. However, I do think that it’s more of a grower, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. Five or six listens in, it gets clearer and clearer that PSB know exactly what they are doing. EERA eventually feels like another instrument in their orchestral style, and PSB have admittedly quietly been one of my favourite UK bands because, whatever the topic, they find something interesting to do in how they make their music. Overall, it’s a very effective warm-up for the new body of work that lies ahead.

Pictured: J. Willgoose Esq, Wrigglesworth & JF Abraham pictured for ‘Every Valley’ (2017) (via PR)

That’s all for today! Come and dance with me again tomorrow for a new entry in our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library, as we take a listen back to the Pop-Punk of the past. It’s admittedly a rather obvious choice for this week, as we continue to find hits that we haven’t discussed yet. It comes from a very famous Rap-infused Alternative Rock band who have strayed down the path of Electronic Pop music in recent times. They always received heavy airplay from MTV in the late-90s and during the 2000’s, and, in 2014, Kerrang declared them as “The Biggest Rock Band In The World Right Now”. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Field Music – “Orion From The Street”

May 6, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

That’s all for today, but we’re going back to the basics on the blog tomorrow, as we delve into one of the weekend’s biggest new album releases. This week’s pick marks the much-anticipated release of the debut album from Brighton’s promising Post-Punk prodigies who are one of Warp Records latest signings and appeared on the Independent Venue Week documentary ‘On The Road’ where they were seen playing a dustbin lid with an asparagus! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

New Album Release Friday: Jane Weaver – “The Revolution Of Super Visions”

March 5, 2021 — Leave a comment

If could have any Super Power in the world – I would abolish Covid-19. New Post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Flock” (LP) (Released on March 5th, 2021) (via Fire Records)

Good Morning to you – I am Jacob Braybrooke, and as you may have guessed, it’s time again for me to get typing up for your 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! Quickly, we’ve reached the end point for another week in Lockdown, but rest assured, there are always new things to do from Friday. Last week was a jam-packed point for new album releases, and so this week feels quite a bit lighter. There’s a new LP from cult Scottish Prog Rock duo Arab Strap, Norweigan Alt-Pop producer AURORA, and the most mainstream-targeted release comes from the reigning Kings Of Leon, as well as a new single to announce the upcoming new album from iconic female Alt-Rock singer St. Vincent. It’s slim pickings for me this week, but the one artist that I probably have the most familiarity with is Jane Weaver. Even that familiarity is not a large deal, but I remember enjoying the shape-shifting Synth-Folk sounds of her previous LP, “Modern Kosmology”, in 2017. Her ninth main album release, “Flock”, arrives today via Fire Records, with live touring dates all over the country to follow later in the year. The new record is also available on an olive-green vinyl and poster from Rough Trade, and a Crean-coloured Vinyl from Indie Store. Although you might not know her by name, Jane Weaver has been around for a long time. She was a former member of Brit-Pop band Kill Laura, who used to manage New Order in the 1990’s. She was also part of the Folktronica project Misty Dixon, and Weaver also fronts her own ambient chillwave side-project, Fenella. Let’s sample “The Revolution of Super Visions” below.

“The revolution accidentally happens because so many people visualize the same ideals and something supernatural occurs” is what the Liverpool-based singer-songwriter and electronic producer said of the lead single taken from her newly arrived album in a press release, continuing “Everyone is exhausted by social media, inequality and the toxic masculinity of the world leaders contributing to a dying planet” in her written analysis of the track’s core themes. Starting off with a simple “You look good” and a basic “Do you look at yourself and find nothing?” over the top of a strutting, 80’s-inspired Disco synth riff and a fairly acidic, yet mellow synth line. For me, there’s a real Bowie-ism found within this sound, with a lighter update of Glam-Pop than Goldfrapp gave us on “Black Cherry” in 2003. The vocals rely on long, shimmering harmonies as verse lines like “I wasn’t ready to say, but I danced to your beat for sixteen hours/I’m camouflaged at the scene” and “See you gaze in the haze, the line of fire” have a long and high-pitched tone, being recited over the top of a strutting bassline that fits the current vogue for retooled disco. Weaver, however, refuses to shy away from the themes of materialism and consumerist addictions that I can interpret in her lyrics, with subtle vocals like “You try to dress to impress, This occasion for me, it’s time to hide” landing a more significant impact on a more intent listen. Songwriting aside, the instrumentation matches the cosmic-themed visuals and the 80’s Synth-Pop aesthetics with a host of bold layers, as distinct psychedelic synthesizers and processed, discordant acoustics production give the track a rather progressive feel, instead of necessarily relying on the creation of a punchy hook. In the end, though, my imagination isn’t too hard-pressed to imagine Gwen Stefani or Jessie Ware performing the track as it’s centerpiece. However, it’s the well-timed fusion of Prog-Pop and Prince-inspired mid-90’s Synth-Funk that makes the melodies memorable to me. It’s a solid case of Weaver bending the rules of Pop to her benefits.

Pictured: Jane Weaver outdoors in Manchester for Silent Radio (in 2017) (Photo by Joseph Curran)

Thank you for taking up the time to check out my new post! What are the new music, film or TV releases that you’re going to be purchasing, downloading or streaming over the weekend? Let me know in the comments below. Don’t forget to join me again, in the meantime, tomorrow – where we’re going to take a look at some recently-released music from one of my childhood staples of the Scuzz era. Perhaps their most recognisable track, “Make Me Wanna Die”, was previously used as a featured track on the movie soundtrack of 2010 Hollywood comic book film “Kick-Ass”, which starred Chloe Grace Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Oneohtrix Point Never (feat. The Weeknd) – “No Nightmares”

February 20, 2021 — Leave a comment

The star of 2020’s Super Bowl half-time show makes a 180° point turn. New post time!

Pictured: Daniel Lopatin at an MOMA screening of “Good Time” (2017) (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and – like always – it’s time again for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, and that’s because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! A veteran of the Experimental Electronic music genre and a mainstay of the iconic Warp Records label since 2013, Oneohtrix Point Never – aka Daniel Lopatin – has been in the game for the long haul. Exploring the vivid styles of kitschy MIDI production and pushing the boundaries of sample-based music cliches, his ninth studio album, “Magic Oneohtrix Point Never”, was released last October, and it draws from the psychedelic aesthetics inspired by the Magic 106.7 radio station. It’s an ambitious project for the well-reviewed Brooklyn-based producer, who has worked with artists such as FKA Twigs, Anonhi and Ishmael Butler previously. One of his most frequent collaborators, however, is the “Man Of The Moment” in the media – The Weeknd. Joining the contributions of Arca and Caroline Polachek for the recent album, The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) and Lopatin’s history goes way back. Lopatin and Tesfaye have traded in the favours for numerous guest spots on each other’s records in the past, and Tesfaye also appeared in 2017’s “Uncut Gems”, a critically acclaimed film that Lopatin scored, and it became the highest-grossing film at the box office for it’s distributor, A24. Paired by a hallucinogenic video, check out “No Nightmares” below.

Lopatin’s latest long-player reached the best-of-year end lists from a breadth of reputable publications, and the cinematic-inspired video was also conceived by Tesfaye and the madcap producer as a trilogy of short clips – The “Midday Suite” – that are influenced by postmodern art and film, and if you hadn’t been sold on their friendship yet, it also turns out that Lopatin was also the musical director of The Weeknd’s huge performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, which millions turned in droves to watch on their TV sets just a short while ago. Paired by a fictional universe of CGI monkeys and trippy Avatar visuals of the two musicians, “No Nightmares” sits between the multiverse of retro and futuristic in it’s approach. Opening with highly processed vocals and a thick layer of slowly dissipating synths, the production feels oddly comforting. The gradually dropping drum beats and the thick reverb of the synths give off a soothing feel, which are accompanied by the gradual revealing of the backing vocals and the chirping bird sounds. The vocals are almost unintelligible in most cases, with lines like “I’ve been missing from my own dream” and “It’s what happens so close” feeling artificial and otherworldly. The most recurring line is “Wait, in time, no nightmares”, which glides softly below the unsullied, experimental percussion of the nifty synth work. The arrangement seems suitably animated, with robotic vocal harmonies and long vocal notes from Tesfaye, who also shares a co-production credit for Lopatin’s latest album. His performance is good here, with an intriguing blend of vocal tones that suit the methodical synths and the Psych-Pop feel of the overall package. As far as mainstream artists go, I quite like The Weeknd and I think he’s a good stage presence in the role of his fame. Through his collaborations with Lopatin, such as “No Nightmares”, I think it gives him the platform to show some credibility as a true artist. “No Nightmares” is a decent example of this, with a good synergy between the two artists, where either man doesn’t feel like they are outshining the other. When all is said and done, I dig this track. Not necessarily everyone would “get it” – but it’s a unique spin on the heavy synth sounds of the 80’s, and it feels well-suited for the mantra of Warp Records, and with growth through repeated listens, it could potentially join the essential suite of Lopatin in becoming another of his most innovative productions of electronic work within the past decade.

Pictured: Cover Art for “Magic Oneohtrix Point Never” (Released on Oct 30, 2020) (via Warp Records)

Whew – time for a breather! There’s another day promptly catered for, but I’ll be back tomorrow, to add yet another entry into our long-running “Scuzz Sundays” series of featured posts tomorrow, where I’ll be throwing you back to the stuff of the lost Scuzz TV channel yet again. Tomorrow’s artist is pretty difficult to guess because it was a fairly short-lived burst of fame for it’s Norweigan Rock quartet. However, they still managed to upsell 55,000 albums worldwide for their two LP releases after being formed out of the ashes of two former outfits: Explicit Lyrics and Squid. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Way Back Wednesdays: Orbital – “The Naked and The Dead”

February 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

On gut reaction, I’d rather be in the former situation than the latter. Let’s go Way Back!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Radiccio” (EP) (UK Release) (Released in 1992) (via FFRR Records)

Good Morning to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time again for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, because it is routinely my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! I’m pretty suprised that I’ve not covered any of Orbital’s work on the blog before, since the Kentish DJ brother duo of Phil & Paul Hartnoll are very much within my alley of 90’s electronic dance music releases. Yet, here we are – and it’s taken our weekly archive dig to get me there. A lost cut from the “Halycon” EP, which was released in the UK as the “Radiccio” EP here for us in the UK, and in Japan too, “The Naked And The Dead” is one of those deep dives Orbital tunes that time forgot, as is naturally the case with these projects. This EP barely managed to crack the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, but “Halycon” is still one of the better known tunes from the Hartnoll brothers, especially in the mainstream, and Orbital remains to be one of the most critically acclaimed groups from the 90’s peak of IDM and Acid Techno music. Known for their improvisational style in live DJ set performances, and the photographs of atomised Orbitals on their cover sleeves, Orbital took their name from the M25 orbital motorway of Greater London, which was central to the early rave scene in the South East during the early days of Acid House music. Let’s check out their deep dive below.

Orbital were mainly active between the very late-80’s and 2004, but they have reunited twice in the 2010’s since, with new albums each time to boot. According to the Hartnoll brothers, this old tune represents: “Consumer goods are tending to lose all use-value. Their nature is to be consumable at all costs”, elaborating on this,”Which is to say: Non-values or empty, fictitious, abstract values, you are no longer as old as you feel, or as new as you look, but as old as what you buy” in the original archives of the EP’s press notes. Touching on consumerist values and adapting lifestyles to fit social stereotypes as contextual themes, “The Naked and The Dead” gives me a somewhat dystopian vibe, because it’s simply one of the heavier releases that I’ve ever heard to come from the creative minds of the two Hartnoll brothers. Struck by an unrelenting Jungle influence, the drum beats sound tribal and the bassline hits a fast tempo. The vocals are a sample taken from Scott Walker’s version of the track “Next”, which, in turn, is a cover version of an old pop tune originally sung by Jacques Brel. The inspiration behind the “Halcyon” EP also revolved around Hartnoll’s mother’s addiction to the drug Triazolam for many years, which is obviously known as Halcion otherwise. This darker variation of tones, especially compared to past Orbital hits like “Chime” and “The Mobius”, feels reflective of that matter. The repeating hook is sporadically layered under a polished Drum sequence, while the Synths give off a viably more strobe lighting-like effect that was a good fit for late-night festival sets. While retaining it’s dance-oriented roots, the layering of the synths and the drums is quite merticulous, with the ethnological drum beats and the trickling Synth sequences replacing old Drill ‘N’ Bass production with the West African-influenced percussion. After the sweat dries, the track likes to keep itself afloat by repeating the opening sequences and incorporating the Scott Walker sample to add a slightly soulful quality. It would ware a bit thin by the end of the long 12 minute remix also found on the EP, but it works for the short version. It wouldn’t be classed as one of their greatest hits, but it’s worth a tad more recognition than it gets.

Pictured: Phil Hartnoll (DJ/Producer) and Paul Hartnoll (Synths/Drums) (2017) (via Channel 4 News)

And… we’re back in the present! Join me tomorrow, where I’ll be contrasting these ancient throwbacks with some brand new music that I’ve recently discovered through the Bandcamp app. Join me again then – for an in-depth look at a single from the sophomore album to come from a Danish indie Post-Punk Revival band, who have just released the new LP on Fat Possum Records. Boasting a decade of experience, the 21-year-old frontman has previously been a part of his local indie rock band Cola Freaks, and has ran two indie music labels under his wing – Shordwood and 100 Records. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

New Album Release Friday: Django Django – “Glowing In The Dark”

February 12, 2021 — Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

That’s all for now – Take care of yourself, and get digging through that backlog of yours. Scuzz Sundays is our next weekly feature, and a new addition to that library is set to arrive at the usual time. Before then, why not reconvene with me tomorrow? I’ll be taking a deep dive into the most recent album release to come from a well-established Synthpop group from Australia. The band are probably best known for their third album that came out in 2011 – which ultimately earned the awards for “Best Dance Release” and “Artisan Award for Best Cover Art” at the ARIA Music Awards of the same year. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Bullion – “Thirty Two”

February 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

A Bullion of silver – let’s see if this music is worth it’s weight in gold! New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Heaven Is Over” (Released on September 25, 2020) (via Jagjaguwar Records)

Good Afternoon – I’ve just seen the Royal Rumble, and that means it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! We’re kicking off the new month with a familiar face to the blog – and one of the releases that you might have missed in 2020. We’ve covered Bullion’s work once before – and this is the electronic music alias for NTS Radio host Nathan Jenkins, who largely self-produces his own material from his studio in West London. The follow up to the “We Had A Good Time” EP, which released at the very beginning of last year, was the “Heaven Is Over” EP, a little release that I would really recommend for it’s subversive, Warp Records-esque production tools. Under his pseudonym, Jenkins has released a multitude of work for the Young Turks, R&S, The Trilogy Tapes and Jagjaguwar Records companies. During his time-frame, Jenkins has also established himself in the European dance scene, where he’s lived in Lisbon, Portugal for a number of years. My eyes were really drawn to this beautiful fan-made video to his track, “Thirty Two”, which was uploaded onto YouTube last October by TRUTH CRAB, with the Japenese anime’ visuals being taken from Ai Monogatari’s 90’s mini-series, “9 Love Stories”. Let’s take the beauty in below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF7E5nDPsXc

“Thirty Two” was, indeed, taken from the “Heaven Is Over” EP from Bullion – which got it’s digital release last September, and a physical 12″ vinyl release followed that December. I’d say it would have made for a brilliant Stocking filler at yuletide time – and the five-track EP was also released as a part of the “Friends Of” project – which was launched, then, as a joint initiative between the Jagjaguwar Records, Secretly Canadian and Dead Oceans label to provide financial support for independent artists affected by the difficulties of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Jenkins also kept himself busy throughout the year by producing Westerman’s debut solo album, “Your Hero Is Not Dead”, along with collaborating with Sampha and Talking Heads’ David Byrne. Even though “Thirty Two” was never officially released as a single, I think it’s still a solid reflection of the 80’s euphemisms and the self–quoted “Pop, Not Slop” attitudes that Jenkins brings to the table. Some might find the lack of any vocals to turn them away, but we’re instead treated to a richly detailed atmosphere that evokes a nostalgic, child-like emotion that would be fairly difficult to replicate with real words. The odd hum, or two, from Jenkins is enough to create a Shoegazed, dream-like backing track to the instrumental sounds. Speaking of those, we get a more electronic style of sound than some of the more piano-based compositions you would find on the EP, with shuffling drum beats and slightly grooving guitar licks evoking a gently propelling sound, while 80’s New Wave-inspired synth lines glide slowly beneath the organic instrumentation to blend these soft instrumentals with a more child-like ambience. It reminds me slightly of Boards Of Canada – with toy Organ chords and mid-tempo Synth lines creating a lightly psychedelic haze to the overall sound. Together, these soft instrumentals gently ascend in tempo, while the odd rumble of bass brings the celestial Synths back down to Earth. I know that some listeners really don’t like the lack of vocals in their music, but I really liked this little release. “Thirty Two” feels very relaxed and quite child-like, but there’s still a light melancholy to the sound with it’s mid-tempo pacing and the push-and-pull bassline. Overall, it is a very nicely laid out little track, and the possible flaws are easy to shake.

Pictured: Bullion (a.k.a. Nathan Jenkins) in a photoshoot for his NTS Radio Show (2017) (via NTS)

If you liked “Thirty Two”, I get the feeling that you will also like the title track from Jenkins’ “We Had A Good Time” EP release last February. Check it out right here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/27/todays-track-bullion-we-had-a-good-time/

Pictured: Cover Art for “We Had A Good Time” (Released on February 28, 2020) (via DEEK Recordings)

That’s all I’ve got to share with you today – and so I’m going to move on with my shorter working day. Join me again tomorrow for an in-depth look at one of my favourite singles in quite a long time, and this next one is currently really blowing up online with the 6Music crowd of listeners. The track comes from a London-based, female-led Post-Punk group who have recently signed up to the well-known 4AD indie music label, and they were inspired to write and perform their own music by bands including The Feelies, The Necessaries, Pylon and even The B-52’s of wide “Love Shack” fame. 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/