Surf-Rock

New Album Release Fridays: Dan Sartain – ‘People Throwing Stones In Glass Houses’

November 26, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Arise, Dan Sartain, Arise’ (LP) (Released on Nov 26th, 2021) (via One Little Independant)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to throw some stones in some glass houses to the beat of yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! This week’s pick for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ arrives with a dose of sadness because it also means that it’s time for us to say goodbye to a cult favourite singer-songwriter – Dan Sartain – who left us at the young age of just 39 at the end of March 2021. Dan Sartain got an early start by playing in the local hardcore punk band Plate Six in the 1990’s, and the Blues artist from Birmingham, Alabama went on to release eight subsequent solo albums. During his career, Sartain got the chance to be the opening act for The Hives and The White Stripes on tour in 2007 and he notably issued the ‘Bohemian Grove’ single on Jack White’s legendary imprint Third Man Records in 2009. After building traction as an extroverted artist on open mic nights in the US and building his cult following as an unsigned talent, he finally released his first widely commercially available LP record ‘Dan Sartain vs. The Serpientes’ in 2005.

Sartain’s music encompassed a variety of Rockabillly, Blues, Country and DIY Punk music but his sound had a characteristically combative relationship with the genres and their surrounding subculture. He would also promote social causes like the Black Lives Matter Global Network. The cause of his death has never been revealed, but tributes poured in from the likes of James Skelly, Sarah Waters, Jeff Klein, AIM UK and his fanbase when the news of his death was announced by his family and his manager earlier in the year. His final album – ‘Arise, Dan Sartain, Arise’ – was finished a few months before he passed away and it is being released today on his UK-based longtime label One Little Independent as unchanged and how it was intended to be. 100% of the proceeds and royalties will be donated to a trust fund for Sartain’s young daughter as per his family’s request. The only single to be taken from the record is ‘People Throwing Stones In Glass Houses’ – which arrives with the music video below.

Confirming the tragic news via the GoFundMe page set up to help pay for the Center Point-born Garage Rock musician’s funeral expenses earlier this year, Dan’s family wrote, “Dan Sartain left us many memories and music but unfortunately left us way too early”, elaborating, “As wonderful as his legacy is, he had no plans for the unmentionable and, thus, here we are. We aren’t trying to do much, but have a small service for family and friends, and with Dan’s wide range of friends, this should be available. From all of his family, we thank you”, in their statement that is readable on the site. Set against the backdrop of the black and white music video directed by Darryl Jakes, Sartain struts his mature voice for his early age with a hazy, mid-tempo reflection on how we see ourselves and other people through watching our attitudes and those of others. There isn’t a whole lot of production to the track, and the sound is very raw and bitter instead. The track starts off with a beautifully haunting Organ jab, before some searing Surf-Rock melodies created by the rhythm guitar establish the theme of the track. The vocals have a wink-at-the-camera playfulness to their aid, but the twangy guitar riffs and the bitter tone of his lyrics introduce a harsher edge to the beat. I get a classic 60’s Punk vibe from the guitar solo that runs throughout the final stretch, with another solo created by a Horn section introducing a more Gothic rhythm to the instrumental before the final repeat of the chorus. There’s simply no nonsense or filler material here at all and Sartain does everything with his own original purpose. He is not the best singer in the world and the lyrics are lacking a little polish here, but he isn’t necessarily trying hard to be. Instead, he’s following that ethos of a true artist by making the art that he creates as originally intended with his own expression. Crowd pleasing, sharp Alt-Rock from a musician who left us too early.

Pictured: Dan Sartain in an official photoshoot for an in-depth interview for Autre.Love (2016) (Photo via PR)

That’s enough for today! Thank you for checking out the blog and supporting the independent creatives, like Dan Sartain, who are behind the music regularly featured. I’ll be back tomorrow to carry on our unique ‘Countdown To Christmas 2021’ with a track from a legendary 70’s British Glam-Rock band who explored many genres and were led by Marc Bolan. They were inducted in the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame in 2020.

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Today’s Track: Francis Lung – “Bad Hair Day”

May 27, 2021 — Leave a comment

Writing today’s text at 11:57pm would clearly be a ‘Close Shave’. Time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Vinyl Copy of “Miracle” (LP) (Available from June 18th, 2021) (via Memphis Industries)

Good Evening to you! It’s Jacob Braybrooke here – I’ve been extremely busy today, and so I have got more of a teatime post lined up for you. Rest assured, however, I’m finally here to deliver the post 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! ‘Bad Hair Day’ is a recent single from Francis Lung, a Manchester-based indie rock songwriter who I wasn’t familiar with prior to this track, but I heard it on a recent episode of 6 Music Recommends and it certainly gave me some joy. My research says that Lung is gearing up to release his second solo album, ‘Miracle’, next month, as the follow-up to his debut album, ‘A Dream Is U’, which got some positive reviews from publications like Paste, The Line Of Best Fit and Uncut when it was issued two years ago. He says, “For me, Miracle is about the struggle between my self-destructive side and my problem-solving, constructive side” about the new record, which releases on June 18th via Memphis Industries – the same record label that is home to Field Music, The Go! Team, Baba Ali and more. Let’s go to the barbers to relieve a ‘Bad Hair Day’ below.

“I don’t want to be defined by my anxiety, my depression or any history of substance abuse”, Lung notes in his press statements to plug the concept of the new release, adding, “But I do want to reach out to other people who have had similar experiences, especially if it’s in a way that helps them feel a little better. To me, this music is about healing as much as it focuses on the darker sides of the human psyche”, is what Lung feels is the important takeaway of this new body of work. My research also tells me that Lung was previously a member of the Manchester Punk band WU LYF, who created a mystery around themselves by largely declining requests for interviews and generally not giving much information to the journalists about their own brand of “Heavy Pop” music, and so it’s a brave thing for Lung to begin opening up about his personal life and viewing his own experiences from an alternate angle. The main bulk of ‘Bad Hair Day’ echoes the 60’s Surf-Rock of the Beach Boys and the happy-go-lucky 90’s Britpop of Supergrass for me, with angular guitar riffs that feel light-hearted and classic Tempo changes that keep the earworm sensibilities from getting too predictable. Vocally, he discusses the reactions to having a hangover on the morning after a night out that went a little too far, and more sorrowful sequences of lyrics that paint a wider picture of strained connections and damaged self-esteem for oneself. The opening lines of “I woke up with static in my hair today, A frequency of ringing in my ears was all I could hear” feel humorous and slightly comedic, and these are interspersed nicely with more serious problems being hinted towards, like “You slam the door, love me again or love me no more” that suggest a darker issue behind the scenes. The quickfire percussion and the frazzled String sections mix up the soft Rock tones with a more subversive quality, and the track ends on a hazy solo that reminds me of Queen and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever in it’s blend of 70’s influences and it’s light Country or Blues feel. On the whole, it’s a track that manages to put a unique spin on today’s talk of Mental Health regularly in the media by looking backwards a little, with some decent commentary on personal outlook. An exciting new ‘Indie Disco’ release for fans of Willie J. Healey or JW Francis.

  • Pictured: Francis Lung before playing Stay Fresh Fest at The Deaf Institute (2018) (Photo by Twitter.com)

That’s all for today – thank you for sticking to the end of the post with me today, and I hope that it’s not been a ‘Bad Hair Day’ for you in any way. Tomorrow, we’re going to be kicking off the extended Bank Holiday weekend with our all-important sift through Friday’s album releases. We’ll be sampling the debut solo album to come from a Canadian poet who was previously a member of the underground rap collective Halal, and one of his poems was once worn, on a dress, to a Vogue fashion event by the popular actress Emilia Clarke. If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime

Today’s Track: Dante Elephante – “Game Of Love”

March 15, 2021 — Leave a comment

Play what you want – but you better not go play Mind Games on me! New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Game Of Love” (Single) (Released on Feb 26th, 2021 (via Born Losers Records)

Good Afternoon to you! Jacob Braybrooke here, wishing you a happy Monday, as I report to the blog for my track of the day, since it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! If you cast your mind back to just two months ago, you may recall our ‘New Album Release Friday’ feature on the blog, where we took an in-depth look at ‘Mid-Century Modern Romance’, the third studio album to be released by Dante Elephante (aka Ruben Zarate), on the Born Losers Records label at the very beginning of the new year. The album sees the singer-songwriter – who is based in the Highland Park area of Santa Barbara near Los Angeles in California – shed his previous Surf-Rock and Stoner-Pop sound for a more retro guise of Disco-Pop and Dance-Rock. Produced by Paul Cherry, the LP was a cheeky little sleeper hit of a release, with some groovy tunes that have really grown on me in the last two months. The sound is nicely inspired, while nostalgic at the same time, as an overall classic-sounding Pop package that doesn’t set the world alight, but refreshingly manages to transport you away from the grim reality of our current circumstances with a passionate stride. To follow up on album stand-outs like ‘Jeni’ and ‘Find Somebody To Love’, Zarate has just released a one-off single in the form of a cover version of Santana’s 60’s Soul Pop anthem, ‘Game Of Love’. If you find the sampling below to be enjoyable, Zarate also hosts his own eccentric podcast, ‘The Dante Elephante Podcast’, which you can check out each Thursday on commercial platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and wherever else that you get your podcasts. You can have a sing along to the on-screen lyrics for ‘Game Of Love’ below.

Paired with the above music video, which is dedicated to Gregg Alexander, Zarate has been promoting his music with a live appearance on the KCRW radio station, where you’ll find him talking about the records that take him back in his very own all-Vinyl playlist titled ‘Private Playlist’ which articulates his inspiration from his heroes, including rarities from Orange Juice and Eydie Gorme. The segment is up on his YouTube channel if that sounds interesting to you, where you can also find some live performances of tracks from the new album, alongside the above music video for bonus single ‘Game Of Love’. Speaking of that track, it demonstrates some maturing of his songwriting skills and some acting chops, with Zarate busting some moves to co-incide with the more upbeat, dance-oriented chorus sections. The verses are a little more pensive though, with soulful melodies and mid-tempo synth beats that continually emerge and retreat back in the more toned down sections. The drum beat grooves are rather nice, before sensual lines like “So, please tell me why you don’t come around here no more/Cause right now I’m dying outside the door of your loving store” creep in to the soundscape with a lightly drawing scope. The chorus is more hook-led, with rhymes like “It just takes a little bit of this, A little bit of that/It started with a kiss, Now we’re up to bat” and “A little bit of laughs, A little bit of pain, it’s all in the game of love” that feel forthright and ready for summer. The percussive elements are neatly packed into the sound, and Zarate increases the tempo of the original track just a little to give it a more funky, progressive update. Overall, it’s a really lovely little track because it demonstrates a clear talent that Zarate has in making pop music that sounds old-school and vintage with a top-notch sense of authenticity, and while the results are not really a groundbreaking record, it’s one that feels charming, with an affectionate Falsetto tool that takes me from a somewhat mundane setting, and it makes me feel like I’m beach-bound on a pleasantly hot day. It’s just good Pop music.

  • Pictured: Ruben Zarate (of Dante Elephante) in a ‘GoodTimes.SC’ promo shoot (2019) (via PR)

As aforementioned, this is the second time that Dante Elephante has pulled an appearance on the little blog. Although it’s grown on me more since then, you can also check out my guidance of album single ‘Las Vegas’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/01/08/new-album-release-friday-dante-elephante-las-vegas/

  • Pictured: Cover for “Mid-Century Modern Romance” (Released on Jan 8, 2021) (via Born Losers Records)

That’s all for now – Please feel free to check back here tomorrow, however, with an in-depth look at some more brand new music recommendations. Tomorrow’s track is almost guaranteed to send you straight to the bustling atmosphere of Asian aesthetics, with an in-depth look at the superb new track to come from a promising all-female indie rock band from Nagoya, Aichi who are signed to the Sub-Pop Records label. The band have recently collaborated with Gorillaz for a track on the ‘Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez’ compilation. 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: Baba Stiltz – “Running To Chad”

December 21, 2020 — Leave a comment

This is it – A chance to take! Nightlife scene, all the plans you’ve made. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Running To Chad” (LP) (Released on September 25, 2020) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time again for me to get typing up about your daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to get writing to you about a different piece of music every day! Although his name makes him sound like he’s a French mime artist, Baba Siltz is an upcoming, 27-year-old Experimental Electronic Dance musician from Stockholm, Sweden. He started making electronic dance music at the age of 15, releasing quirky and experimental Alternative Pop records under the mantra of the “Bethlehem Beard Corporation”. That was 10 years ago, however. Fast-Forward to 2020, where his artist biography on Spotify reads as simply “No one puts Baba in the corner”. That, and he has also released his latest solo album – titled “Running To Chad”. This follows Baba’s unconventional songwriting through the explorations of Surf-Rock, Soft-Funk and Psychedelic Rock, and it plays out mostly like a Swedish artists’ take on the beach-ready California rock sounds of the 1960’s and the 1970’s. The EP was released back in September, which he self-released. Let’s check out the title single of the record below.

https://youtu.be/A8q_JCJ_ndY

The “Running To Chad” EP also features remixes of the titular single from DJ Python and Jesse, the first being a minimalist Techno cut that slowly builds to a warmer, more pulsing House track, and the second remix cut – from Jesse – is a deeper and more meditative, ambient take on Baba Stiltz’s track. As for the original itself, the track feels like a love letter to the classic, summer-geared Rock sounds of The Beach Boys and The Surfaris, as Baba whips up a lighthearted, melodic track where he comedically drops in one-liners like “San Diego dreams, California love” with a slightly cerebral and ethereal, low-pitched croon delivery. He plays the sense of quirky humor very cool, and he wears it’s heart on his sleeve while keeping a straight face through the entire length of the track – an almost 6-minute fusion of percussive drum beats, laidback bass guitar grooves and a soft Techno acid section gradually forming in the centre. The lyrics of “What you running from? Indigo dreams and a pocket full of ones” and “Took a trip, It’s an easy out/Bleach-stained hair on a Bus down south” are whimsical and darkly rhythmic, as we build to the killer hook of “It’s your favourite game, Now you’re on a roll/No return, gonna lose control”, with a distinct and flat dance-not-dance form of vocal pitch. Everything builds up to an interlude of fluttering Acid synths and percussive, Tango-esque backing beats. The instrumental has a very light-hearted and warm texture, and it feels excellent for the grim weather that we’re currently receiving here in England, as my friend pointed out to me on the phone today when we had a quick chat about this one. I think this is a track that may take longer for some people, most likely the more casual listenership, to truly connect with – in fact, I didn’t really get it at first, probably because I wasn’t really born in the Surf-Rock era that the track is borrowing from. However, it’s very worth the time and the effort, because this track feels really ‘cool’, in the way that it walks the line between a Dance tempo and a Cerebral vocal, and it is unlike anything else that I’ve been hearing recently. Now I can’t stop playing it – and it doesn’t get old!

  • Pictured: Baba Stiltz in a photoshoot for a Inverted Audio feature (2014) (Photo via inverted-audio.com)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post! I’ve got more music tomorrow – a last-minute addition to our schedule on the blog for this week, with a track that came out in 2010, and I think that it’s now super relevant again given the recent news about the Christmas season, especially here in the UK. The track, never released as a single, comes from one of my “Jacob Classics” – a poetic Swedish singer-songwriter from Gothenburg who once wrote an anecdotal track about the famous movie actress, Kirsten Dunst. 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: Candace – “Still Phase”

October 12, 2020 — Leave a comment

A “Witchgaze” trio from Portland who you’ll never see Coven. It’s time for a new post!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Ideal Corners” (Released on May 29th, 2020) (via Self-Released/Bandcamp)

Good Morning! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, as per usual, it’s time for me to type up about 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! With their self-described “Witchgaze” sound, Candace are a Shoegaze and Dream-Folk band from Portland, Oregon. The line-up is made up of Mara Appel Des Lauriers, Sarah Nienebar and Sarah Rose, who share the vocals and guitar roles on their tracks, with Des Lauriers supplying the Drum parts too. They first met in Minneapolis, where the three ladies bonded over their love for guitars in their parents houses, before forming their band (Which was then-known as Is/Is) in 2009. They currently self-produce all of their music, and they self-release it all on their Bandcamp page. They seem to have quite the prolific discography if you take a moment to look at all of the music releases on their Bandcamp page, and “Ideal Corners” is the latest full-length album release, which they uploaded onto the page on May 19th, 2020. The release saw them collaborate on production with Larry Crane, and it was recorded at the Jackpot! Recording Studio almost a whole year ago. It also finds them experimenting with electronic Synth hardware, namely drum machines, to add an “otherworldy” feel to their guitar-led Shoegaze sound. “Still Phase” is the lead single from their recent album, and the trio commented, in a press release, that it “is about coming to terms with the senslesness of inaction, about learning over and over again that there is ‘no right time’, nothing is ever definite”. Let’s relax and take a listen to “Still Phase” below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc3sA_JQaE0

Their recent album explores “themes of nostalgia and hope, the unease of modern band life, expectations and inertia – all encapsulated into tightly written psychedelic dream pop songs” according to their partner label Little Cloud Records. It’s certainly noticeable that “Still Phase” has a significantly light and gentle sound, and there is really not much in the way of explosive variations in sound or memorable lyrical hooks here, necessarily. However, it’s melodic enough. The vocals are fairly easy to decipher, which is quite an unusual trait for a Shoegaze release, as Ninebar chimes: “Forget my name, go on, let this soar, we’re flying/Keep on trying” and “Now, I know you then” at a soft ease, over the top of an increasingly layered series of psych-laden textures, with fluffy and laborious guitar work easily blending with a set of gently melancholic backgrounds, and soft-centred drum beats which slowly build up to a distorted layer of heavy bass as we near the track’s conclusion. There is also a sense of strength that develops between these minor changes of tempo as well, and the thorough line is a droning, but calming, lead vocal that has a proverbial effect of just massaging your ears. Overall, it presents a textural backdrop of a gorgeous pool of soft psychedelic sounds for you to submerge yourself in, even if this pool could be a little deeper with further experimentation of a slightly more varied set of sounds. It’s still a beautiful and lovely sound though, and the DIY feel, that reminds me of Beach House and Mazzy Star, weirdly adds a little more engagement to it, with it’s simplicity.

  • Pictured: Mara Appel Des Lauriers (Drums/Producer), Sarah Nienabar (Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar) and Sarah Rose (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals) (2016) (Photo by Jeni Wren Stotrup/The Portland Mercury)

Thank you very much for reading my new post! Make sure to check out the blog tomorrow, where we’ll be heading across to the Merge Records label to take an in-depth look at one of their latest releases. The single comes from an electronic Post-Punk producer from Washington, DC who has previously released her material on Danger Records, and “she favours smart, sharp, effortlessly cool compositions that worm their way into your conciousness without breaking a sweat”, according to NME’s Jordan Bassett. If you really 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: Jane In Palma – “One By One (Original Mix)”

October 8, 2020 — Leave a comment

This is basically Cuckoo from the titular BBC sitcom in music form. It’s new post time!

  • Pictured: Jane In Palma (a.k.a. Julian Smith) in the music video for “Safety Net” (2020) (via Vimeo.com)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and it’s my duty to get writing up about your spotlighted daily track on the blog, because it’s still always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! With such a name as quirky as “Jane In Palma” (a parody of the popular Australian Psychedelic Rock artist Tame Impala), you’d be forgiven for thinking this is just a “p**s take” of that culture. No, this is an incredibly experimental project. “Jane In Palma” is the latest moniker of the California-native percussionist and composer Julian Smith, who has released his material under several different aliases, with Dan Froth being his most notable, and he’s previously been associated with WNCL Recordings, Phonica White and UNO! NYC (between the years of 2010 – 2016) under that pseudonym. “Saftey Net” is the second album of his “Jane In Palma” alias, and it’s the follow-up to 2016’s debut “Primitive Thoughts”, and it was released over the summer, on July 8, via Snake Free Roofing. He has gained support from BBC Radio 1, Rinse FM, NTS Radio and Ibiza Global Radio, of all places. For me, I heard of the artist through one of John Ravenscroft’s recent turns on 6Music Recommends, of which Smith was the featured ‘Spotlight Artist’ of the particular programme. In any case, Smith has been claiming for himself to be “based somewhere between the Balearics and the Basque country”, although I am not too sure if this is a part of the act or not, but I’ve given Smith the benefit of the doubt on that. A purely Instrumental track, let’s give ourselves a gander to “One By One” below.

For his first album of the “Jane In Palma” title, Smith’s “Primitive Thoughts” LP from 2016 saw him interpret the surroundings of two locations – empty caves on the isle of Mallorica – which he used as his recording locations. On his Bandcamp page, Smith explains how “Safety Net” is all about exploring the themes of offline living, and ignoring the presence of the media around us, and the record electronically touches upon elements of Garage-Rock, Post-Punk and Surf-Rock from a sonic standpoint. Although “One By One” is not very representative at all of the core sound of the record overall, personally, it is my favourite track on the record because of it’s simplicity. The rest of the record is an interesting mix of idiosyncratic 80’s hip-hop instrumentals and underground production methods, where “the facts don’t matter if the source is crooked”, according to Smith himself, but the sound that makes up the original mix of “One By One” is a more formulaic and gentle process. It mixes up an audibly soft funk rhythm of a plucky bass guitar riff with a delightfully upbeat Conga drum beat that catches on a melodious, repetitive groove that continually sits on the top of a slightly stuttered time signature. A few push-and-pulls of the pacing can be heard now and again, but it mainly stays at a punchy mid-tempo feel, with a springy interlude towards the end. There’s evidently nothing at all to talk about lyrically here because it’s an entirely instrumental effort, but the tones are cheerful and free-form, allowing the patterns of the repeated guitar-and-drum pattern to catch the attention of your ears. The sound pallete is not too busy, but there’s enough going on to make it feel relaxed and humble, if unashamedly formulaic, to keep you occupied and simply in a nice mood. Overall, it allows Smith to nurture his creativity mind-set, and explore sequenced sets of productions with the use of the experimental recording processes, without even the need to think about the commercial justifications to do so. A “pet project” down to a tee, I find the simplicity of “One By One” to be very appealing, with music which seems basic but groovy. Definitely worth keeping your tabs on this artist.

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Safety Net” (Album/LP) (Released on July 8th, 2020) (via Snake Free Roofing)

Thank you very much for reading the new post! Don’t forget that I’ll be back again tomorrow, for an in-depth look at another experimental enigma, who is more accustomed to the underground Hip-Hop Fusion realm. It comes off the back of an impressive debut album released two years ago, and the new record features guest collaborative work from Iggy Pop, Jimi Goodwin (of Doves) and Jason Williamson (of The Sleaford Mobs). 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/