Synthpop

Today’s Track: Mindchatter – ‘Brain Pills’

April 23, 2024 — Leave a comment

You need some brain pills to fuel your desire to seek new music. Time for a new post!

Pictured: Bryce Connolly (aka Mindchatter) performing at a vibrant live set (2022) (Photo via MusicTech.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke and it always used to be my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day. That’s before my adulthood got right in the way! Somewhere deep in the suburban situation of New York City is where you’ll be able to find Bryce Connolly, a multi-instrumentalist and EDM producer who was recently featured on KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune podcast. That’s how I caught wind of ‘Brain Pills’, a rather silly yet relatable track dripped in irony regarding the current “Ask My GP” crisis that rages across the world. Finding a curious intersection between a genre-less approach to beats and blatant anecdotal lyricism on ‘Brain Pills’, he reflects on the experience of being prescribed his medication by a psychiatrist on an application via video call. Speaking about the humour and irony that he found in the experience, he says, “The whole process is extremely goofy. I was diagnosed by a woman wearing a hoodie… I’m pretty sure I was older than her, too. Anyways, it seems like this has become the new normal because a lot of people are relating to the song”, in a press release. Sample the track – which is taken from his EP ‘This Is A Reminder That You Are Not Behind Your Face’ released in February – below.

The eccentric appeal of Mindchatter’s mental health-themed music stands out for seeing the lighter side of the overwhelming aspects of life that can haunt us. It has taken him to the stages of popular festivals like Coachella, Lightning In A Bottle and Okeechobee as well as leading to support slots with artists like Polo & Pan and SG Lewis. There’s little time for grief and sadness because ‘Brain Pills’ gets to an immediate start by establishing the floaty, bubbling percussion from the opening. “Brain pills, from a doctor, on the internet” repeats as the new layers of more weighty drums and hazy, psychedelic synths progress the chords. The verse reveals more about his perception of his appointment as odd and unbelievable, as he used lyrics like “She asked questions from a PDF/I can see her apartment/It was a mess” to emphasize the careless approach of the online medical help and the fact that his mind wandered down the route of satire at the sight of her apartment seeming messier than Bryce’s own life. Effects add reverb to his vocals, giving the lyrics a trippy vibe to complement the chatter about ADHD medication. The synths have a free-wheeling effect to accentuate the psychedelia-leaning tone too, with “My chakras was not aligned” being repeated at the top of a sturdy drum beat and high frequency-aligned synths during the bridge of the track before the punchy chorus returns to take us through the journey of his imagination as his mind wanders down a different path again. Overall, I love how satire and irony are woven into the fabric of this dance track that emphasises the hillarity of an online meeting with meaningful consequences being hosted by an unprofessionally-behaved authority while feeling serious enough to surpass the stage of novelty. In a world of love songs and vengeful protest jams, it is refreshing to hear the experience of a good old anecdote being replicated in this fearless Electro-Pop track which is sharp enough to match its quirks.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘This Is A Reminder That You Are Not Behind Your Face’ (EP) (Released on February 2nd, 2024) (via Foreign Family Collective)

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Today’s Track: Bolis Pupul – ‘Kowloon’

April 12, 2024 — Leave a comment

A fish not out of water, but thriving in their natural habitat for once. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Letter To Yu’ (LP) (Released on March 8th, 2024) (via DEEWEE)

Good Afternoon to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and it used to be my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day before my adulthood got right in the way! Attempting to pinpoint the ancestry of today’s artist, Bolis Pupul, may provide enough for a full blog post on its own. Born in Belgium and raised in Ghent by a Belgian cartoonist father and a mother who was born in Hong Kong but lived in China, Pupul lived in a household that kept shlves full of vinyl records. After falling in love with Beck’s weird and wonderful 90’s LP’s such as ‘Mellow Gold’ and ‘Odelay’, he cut his teeth in a Synth-Pop project with his sister and brother-in-law that nurtured his love for eight-track Foxtex recorders and the Japanese Shibuya-key star Cornelius during the late 2000’s and early 2010’s. Fast forward to 2024 and Bolis is best known for releasing the critically-beloved ‘Topical Dancer’ LP which was a joint venture with Charlotte Adigery. As a solo artist, he is now signed to Soulwax’s label Deewee that is also the home of artists like James Righton, Marie Davidson and EMS Synthi 100 who are known for exploring futuristic 70’s Funk-driven Pop sounds. The long road to releasing his first solo full-length ‘Letter To Yu’ was full of pot holes and diversions though, like using a rail replacement bus service to travel from Littleport to Liverpool. The main cause of heartbreak was the loss of his mother, who died in a car accident during June 2008 at age 49. She was a huge inspiration for the LP, which is centered around a trip that Pupul took to Hong Kong in 2008. He visited the street where she was born and he wrote her a letter which became “the coat rack on which the entire record was hung“, as Pupul notes. Sample his sound with ‘Kowloon’ below.

The sounds of frogs, the voice of a doctor that Pupul visited and the sounds of a train platform are all recordings of Pupul’s adventure to Hong Kong that all crop up throughout the 11 tracks and the near 46-minute duration of the aromatic album that paints a picture of the Kowloon urban district that Pupul visited with an intimate touch. In fact, the seventh track on the final product is named after Mau Tau Wei Road in which the maternity clinic that his mother was actually born within. Having read all of this information on Pupul without my description of the sound, you would probably expect ‘Kowloon’ to sound like a spiritual jazz record with steady drones and a larger prioritisation on rhythm instead of melody. However, the element of suprise arrives at full throttle as the East-Asian take on the Kraftwerkian Alt-Pop of the 80’s quckly begins to reveal itself. Nostalgia and celebration are steeped in equal measure on ‘Kowloon’ which begins and ends with a stabbing, highly compressed key sound but he fills the space of sound with a gradually sauntering drum melody that swiftly evolves into a charming dance track akin to a late-90’s French House workout. The technicolour and futuristic aesthetic never dismisses the slow, hypnotic start to the track but embraces the repetition instead by incorporating East Asian touches to the European Motorik sound. There’s a characteristic that is incredibly inviting about finding release on the dancefloor given the very heavy events that set the album’s narrative in motion as well as the sense of ever-present joy that Pupul provokes so enthusiastically. His personality, soul and sense of fun is communicated through the playful composition of the track and the ambience of the vocals that almost sound intelligible, but retain the effect of being in a room with others and not being able to make out the words which happens often in life. It gives this track a sense of place, making us feel like a part of Kowloon as we listen to his martial stomp of a Synth-driven track. Overall, this is a wonderful ode to the widely believed notion that an album should provide a snapshot of the artists’ life. It feels intimate enough to retain some mystique for Pupul personally, but it feels inviting enough to give us a glimpse of his life story. A tour-de-force of euphoria, ancestry and – most importantly – cheer.

Pictured: Bolis Pupul recording a live set for Indie Rock Hit Parade w/Charlotte Adigery (2022) (Photo by WXPN)

That’s all for today! Thank you for joining me on my journey as I find my place in the music industry after a few years of hiatus due to personal issues and please join me again next week as I spotlight another example of the fantastic music which 2024 has provided since beginning 15 weeks ago. I look forward to writing to you again shortly.

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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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Way Back Wednesdays: The Knife – ‘Silent Shout’

April 20, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Karin Dreijer (Lead Vocals/Keyboard) and Olof Dreijer (Splicing/Effects/Bass) (2006) (via NPR; press shoot)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for us to go retro with a striking piece that will tell you a story of fairly recent history with another entry of ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ on One Track At A Time, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Ever an elusive and dynamic duo, cult Swedish electronic music duo The Knife (Comprised of siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer) were never afraid to, somewhat uninentionally, capture the attention of the mainstream with their dark-leaning blend of Dubstep, EDM, Art-Pop and Psychedelia, also including some slower and darker strains of Hip-Hop and R&B, throughout the years to create music that, although Pop, was more far-reaching and progressive. First gaining an international following through their 2003 album ‘Deep Cuts’, the duo managed their own record company – Rabid Records – throughout their years of activity between 1999 and 2014. They were known for donning their Venetian masks to hide their faces in many public appearances, and they have won a number of Swedish Grammis awards despite refusing to attend the ceremonies. Although the duo decided to call it a day and disband in 2014, Karin started her own solo project Fever Ray in 2009, while Olof performs as a DJ under the monikers of DJ Coolof and Oni Ayhun. Last year, The Knife celebrated their 20th anniversary by announcing a range of re-issues on Vinyl and concert streams including BTS footage of their various album’s development. ‘Silent Shout’ – their third LP and arguably most well-received release – was among the works being featured. Let’s remember the title single below.

‘Silent Shout’ spawned four singles and the music video for the title track, along with some of the promo photos doing the rounds of the album’s press campaign, were equally inspired by the works of German-American animator Oskar Fischinger and the ‘Black Hole’ series of comic books created by the American cartoonist Charles Burns. This was also a highly influential release – with fellow artists like Lykke Li, Niki and The Dove, Tove Lo and Denmark’s MØ picking up on The Knife’s Dubstep-influenced blend of Dark Electronica and subversive Dance music rather noticeably in the years following its release in 2006. ‘Silent Shout’ – the title track – is an amalgamation of the record’s club-driven musicality and rewarding lyricism, as the deep House-leaning anthem starts off with a drawing set of Synths that evoke a Sci-Fi aesthetic as they waver along to a chilling, unearthly electronic backdrop of multi-tracked Keys and brooding Drums. A barely audible vocal comes in shortly, which also evokes a ghostly – not to mention a slightly haunting – atmosphere at times as the processed vocals are crashed through the ringer of digital manipulation. The severe distortions of Karin’s lyrics create a daring and jarring presence that pulsates from the mid-tempo opening to the early 90’s Techno and Trance qualities of the slowly bubbling outroduction, telling a narrative of a life gone awry that feels tense and high-octane while suiting the template of unpredictable Pop that shapes the rest of the full-length album. The lyrics give the tempo a slightly melodic uplift with their robotic feel, but the rich electronic backdrop incorporates a wide-ranging series of Lo-Fi Hip Hop and Dark Ambient elements, especially in how the reverb keeps the Drums and Synths feeling grounded, without overstating their direct influences. Overall, ‘Silent Shout’ represents some of The Knife’s most consistent and layered work, both in terms of the heightened production and the forward-thinking concept, from their golden years. The stunning title track marries elastic vocals and cosmopolitan instrumentation to a perfectionist level and there’s clearly a valid reason why it is remembered very fondly.

Pictured: Vinyl bundle of ‘Deep Cuts’ (Released on January 17th, 2003) (via Rabid Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post and supporting my creativity, as you have no idea how much that it means to me to see some love being registered for the site. I’ll be back tomorrow, as always, to do ‘Thursday’ with a cheerful dance track by a Los Angeles-based Alternative Soul duo with a confusing name who, originally formed in Chicago, met in 2012. Their debut LP is out now via Nettwerk Music Group.

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Today’s Track: James Righton – ‘Pause’

April 11, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘JIM, I’M STILL HERE’ (LP/Album) (Available from July 8th, 2022) (via DEEWEE)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has arrived for me to get you re-acquainted with some new music from a familiar face 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! If you remember the Mercury Prize-winning New Wave rock band Klaxons, known for tracks like ‘Golden Skans’ and a cover of Grace’s ‘It’s Not Over Yet’ in the late-00’s, that will be why you’re so sure that you’ve seen Stratford-Upon-Avon’s James Righton before and couldn’t quite put your finger on exactly where. Righton is married to actress Keira Knightley of all people and he also fronted the Shock Machine project that he began in 2016. He also worked on ABBA’s Voyage virtual concert tours in London last year and following from that project, a new solo album has been announced. Produced by Soulwax, ‘JIM, I’M STILL HERE’ is hitting record store shelves in July through DEEWEE. It follows the shiny Synth-Pop single ‘Release Party’ that he released on the same label last year for DEEWEE’s ‘Foundations’ compilation album release. It’s also the follow-up to 2020’s ‘The Performer’, an Alternative Pop record about the distinction between performer and person that he released during the height of the pandemic in March 2020. This was a record that I grew fond of, due to the Baroque instrumentation and the String sections that he played around with. It saw Righton grappling with his own identity, and the upcoming new album plays a somewhat similar role in exploring the family-based serenity that Righton experienced during the promotion of ‘The Performer’ through lockdown in the eyes of an alter-ego named Jim, and the songs were written in Jim’s perspective as an outrageous rock star. The new album features a guest appearance from ABBA’s Benny Andersson, and ‘Pause’ has been unveiled as the first single. It gets accompanied by a music video that was directed by Julian Klincewicz.

“The alter ego of Jim came to me whilst promoting my previous album The Performer during the first week of lockdown. Life shut down and became centered around family and domestic life. At the same time (and this did feel rather strange) I had to promote The Performer. I was asked more and more to live stream concerts through various social media platforms”, Righton says about the creation of his Jim character, adding, “So, I’d put the kids to sleep, head downstairs to my garage studio, put on my Gucci suit and became someone else. The juxtaposition of these lives felt extreme but also interesting to me. I created Jim. Jim would be the deluded rock star, living out his fantasies from the confines of his garage”, about the exaggerated semi-fictional version of himself in the form of Jim. Prince and Midnite Vultures-era Beck are clear influences the second that you press play on ‘Pause’, with 80’s Synth textures and quirky basslines creating a clear relationship between the sonic juxtapositions of Soulwax’s instrumentation work and Righton’s silky voice, where the eminently danceable Synths and the crunching Drums collide to form a warped take on 90’s Synth-Funk. The lyrics reek of narcissism and sensuality, but there’s a hint of actual romance in the more vulnerable tones of Righton’s voice despite the smooth Synth and keyboard work. A variety of lyrics including “Girl there’s never going to be no other/If I could only be your lover” setting up the stage for this contrast, while the cascading backing vocals and the preening artistry of sequences like “You can’t pause with me for the rest of my life” play with the duality between James’ true personality and the more fanciful aspirations of Jim as his alter ego. It’s an interesting proposition for the new album as the lyricism is not too different to those of 2020’s ‘The Performer’ on the surface level, but the sound is a lot more electronic and the Soulwax blueprints are definitely there. While the sound evolves the palette of The Performer’s sounds, the themes still feel just as intriguing and the explorations of self-identity remain intact. Overall, this was a refreshing and welcome return for Righton.

Pictured: James Righton in an official photoshoot to promote ‘The Performer’ (2020) (Photo Credit: DEEWEE)

If you don’t want to hit ‘Pause’ on James – fast-forward to some of his other cuts here.

‘Release Party’ (2021) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/05/17/todays-track-james-righton-release-party/

‘Edie’ (2020) – https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/02/todays-track-james-righton-edie/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘The Performer’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 20th, 2022) (via DEEWEE)

That brings me to the bottom of the page! Thank you for checking out my latest post on the blog, and I will be back tomorrow to introduce you to a brand new artist who goes by the name of Junior, a 24-year-old rapper and songwriter based in Bedford – here in the UK. His fantastic new single – ‘Long Way Home’ – was recently spotlighted on a recent episode of BBC Radio 6’s ‘The New Music Fix’ curated by Tom Ravenscroft.

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New Album Release Fridays: Charli XCX (feat. Christine and The Queens & Caroline Polachek) – ‘New Shapes’

March 18, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Crash’ (LP) (Released on March 18th, 2022) (via Asylum/Atlantic Records/Warner UK)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to look at one of this weekend’s new album releases which is so highly anticipated that it cannot be ignored 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! It has been an interesting career trajectory for the Cambridge-born singer and songwriter Charlotte Emma Aitchinson to say the least, who began posting her videos to MySpace in 2008 (Ask your parents!), where she was scouted by a promoter who invited Charli to perform at urban warehouse gigs. She later signed to Asylum Records in 2010, where she had some pretty traditional and fairly mainstream Pop hits like ‘Boom Clap’, ‘SuperLove’ and ‘Break The Rules’ while also writing well-known singles for Pop heavyweights like Selena Gomez, Iggy Azalea, Icona Pop, Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello. She later became a pioneer of the emerging ‘Hyper Pop’ and ‘Bedroom Pop’ genres while gaining a lot of new fans in the alternative music community with universally praised releases like her 2020 lockdown EP ‘How I’m Feeling Now’ which she produced collaboratively with her fans in a span of six weeks while in self-isolation, a record that played with unconventional Pop structures and experimental electronic production in previously uncharted ways, and it was shortlisted for the 2020 Mercury Prize alongside appearing on year-end lists by Paste, Uproxx, NPR, The Guardian and Consequence Of Sound. Today, she fully leaves the major label Pop music world with her fifth studio album ‘Crash’, which tackles a deal-with-the-devil idea visually. Lyrically, she says that it explores the power of the femme fatale with inspiration from dark spirits and curses which follows the spirit of David Cronenberg’s 1996 film of the same title. Musically, we’re getting a bold fusion of 80’s/90’s power-pop and 00’s synth-pop with a hint of futuristic Bedroom Pop stylings that Charli says was inspired by Janet Jackson. On the BBC Radio 2 playlisted pre-release single ‘New Shapes’, she enlists the help of French Art Pop trailblazer Christine And The Queens and continually rising American star Caroline Polachek. Let’s take it for a drive below.

Charli XCX will be taking her alternative assortment of retro-futurist Pop sounds on the road for a tour of Europe and North America throughout the summer months, and her new LP record features contributions by Rina Sawayama, Digital Farm Animals, Oneohtrix Point Never and several more creatives. ‘New Shapes’ follows a simple story of a stale relationship where both sides are being manipulative, with lyrics like “I don’t know why I got a tendency to run away/Don’t know why I’m always pushing for a sweet escape” that set the scene with bright Synths and 808 beats that will remind you of freestyle girl groups like The Cover Girls or Company B, before a more complex narrative unveils where the narrator is fighting the urge to desert the relationship while feeling exhausted by it, with a cycle of mistreatment manipulating the narrator to feel like a different person while still succumbing to the sexual desire which they share for one another. There are two sides to every coin on ‘New Shapes’ seemingly, where the upbeat keys and the energetic Synth arrangements make it quite easy to overlook the frustrations of the narrator and the complications of their relationship. A strong and consistently high tempo makes the rhythm feel punchy, but the lyrics replicate something a little more mournful in balance. Polachek and Christine are there to play the role of emulating some emotional support from a girl of group friends, who are attempting to cheer Charli XCX up with a scene that may replicate how a group of girls always seem to go to the bathroom together (I went clubbing in my university days, and so that’s a trait I’ve noticed). Their verses are met by a similar soundscape of mechanical drums and reverb-drenched Synths while adding some additional voices to the track for more variety. It doesn’t feel quite as experimental as some of Charli’s other efforts and feels like more of a traditional ‘radio record’ to promote the album, but the blueprints of her wildly successful pandemic EP are still here. I always thought there was something a little different in Charli XCX’s ‘SUCKER’ days of more mainstream Pop where she dealt with overtly sexual content in very expansive ways with a punk attitude, and tracks like ‘New Shapes’ continue to add more nuance to that format. Overall, I think that ‘New Shapes’ is one of the best singles to introduce the more bolder and updated version of Charli XCX to newcomers or previous fans due to it’s accessibility and danceability. It may not feel quite as bold as the tracks on her lockdown EP, but it begs the listener to dance along with it while conveying a sense of urgency and immediacy that clicks together nicely, and that’s coming from somebody who is a little snobbish about this style of Pop music at the best of times. Charli is an extraordinarily talented young lady, and so it’s good that she finally has a platform to show what she’s truly capable of making as a performer and a producer. ‘New Shapes’ may not be her most memorable offering, but there’s something for everyone in here and it conforms to a more accessible Pop sound while not ignoring the experimental EP, and so ‘Crash’ looks more like smooth sailing to me.

Pictured: Charlotte Aitchison at the red carpet of the BRIT Awards (2020) (Photo by Joe Maher/Getty Images)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another day! Thank you for taking a moment out of today to visit the site, and I’ll be back tomorrow to review another fresh new Pop-oriented single – this time coming from an Australian DJ/Producer who is recognized as a ‘Future Bass’ pioneer of the 2010’s with several Grammy Award nominations and ARIA Awards attention to his name. He reportedly chose his name after his favourite Bon Iver track – although his name is shared by a type of ravine.

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Today’s Track: Mitski – ‘Love Me More’

February 28, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Laurel Hell’ (LP) (Released on February 4th, 2022) (via Dead Oceans)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get down to business as we leave the shortest month of the winter for a warmer March as we head into Spring by covering one of the most crucial releases of February for yet another daily track on the blog, given how it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Dubbed as the “best young songwriter” of the US by The Guardian earlier in the past month, the Japanese-American singer-songwriter and producer Mitski has been raging up a storm domestically and internationally with her sixth studio album – ‘Laurel Hell’ – which she released to a healthy buzz and a positive reception on February 4th via the Dead Oceans label. Taking its title from a Folk term for being trapped in thickets of Laurel, an English name for common trees and plants of the Laurel family, that grow in the Southern Appalachian Mountains region of North-Eastern America. Her new album peaked in the top ten of the albums charts in the UK, Australia and Ireland, and it was the best-selling album in the US during its first week on sale, meaning that a wide variety of listeners heard Mitski’s dynamic take on nostalgic Disco, Synth-Pop, Indie Pop and Electronic Rock styles. I read a fascinating story that Mitski had to quit music to love it, as the record was originally reportedly going to be a stinker on deliberate purpose so that Mitski could finalise her current record contract and leave music peacefully, but that thankfully, didn’t turn out to be the case, and her vulnerable songwriting regarding topics like insomnia and mental weight went through many iterations over the last three years, with the record originally designed to be some form of an Avant-Garde Industrial Punk album, later becoming a softer Country album, before Mitski experimented with electronic production and the record was conceived in the final form that you can hear now. The final pre-release single was ‘Love Me More’ that you can preview below.

“Love Me More went through the most iterations out of all the songs on the album. It’s been too fast, too slow, and at some point, it was even an old style Country song”, Mitski said of the single, which has been accompanied by an official music video that was directed by Christopher Good, re-uniting Mitski with the creative behind her ‘Nobody’ video from three years ago, and she concludes, “Finally, I think because we had watched The Exorcist, we thought of Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’ and experimented with floating an ostinato over the chorus. As we steadily evolved the ostinato to fit over the chord progressions, we began to hear how the track was meant to sound”, in her press statement. Starting off with “If I keep myself at home, I won’t make the same mistake/That I made for 15 years” in the opening verse, Mitski begins to croon about her own experiences with finding a fulfilling relationship while embracing a bright stadium-friendly Synth-Pop sound that feels so futuristic yet nostalgic in its tone and delivery, and so a similar collaboration with The Weeknd or La Roux wouldn’t feel out of place for her at some point in the future. A glistening sequence of piercing, self-reflective lyrics like “I wish this would go away/But when I’m done singing this song/I will have to find something else, to do to keep me here” complements a scattered soundscape of early 80’s New Wave synths and skittering up-tempo drum machine melodies that fit the musical ballad style of the lyrics that find Mitski crooning dramatic lyrics like “I could be a new girl/I will be a new girl” and “Here’s my hand, There’s the itch/But I’m not supposed to scratch” as the harshness of the impending Synths see a melodic increase, while never quite exploding into a full-blown club anthem, and so I thought that Mitski paced her instrumentation nicely here. The chorus has a more commanding presence, as she frantically pleads lyrics like “Drown it out/Drown me out” with a demanding atmosphere as the gauzy Synths soundtrack her way to finding nourishment. The end product feels a little scattered to me, but the production is attentively polished for what counts as a fully independent release and she does a great job of valuing her personality above a strive to ‘just have’ a commercial hit, with thoughtful lyrics that maintain the 80’s Pop influences of the track while avoiding the more recycled tropes of the genre. ‘Laurel Heaven’ more like.

Pictured: Mitski Miyawaka in promotional artwork for ‘Laurel Hell’ (2022) (Photo by Ebru Yildiz/Yahoo.com)

That’s all for now! Thank you for tuning into One Track At A Time today, because your support is always very highly appreciated, and I’ll be back tomorrow to guide you through a refreshing single by a group of San Francisco-based shoe-gazers who will release their first new album in a long break of 10 years in March via Fire Talk Records.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Pat Benatar – ‘Love Is A Battlefield’

February 23, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Pat Benatar performing with Neil Girado in New York (2012) (Photo via Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke – and it’s time for you to sharpen your sword and pick your poison for yet another daily track on the blog, as we revive one of the most combative Synth-Pop hits of the 80’s for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’, given that it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music each day! ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ and ‘Heartbreaker’ were just two of the biggest hits that New York-born 80’s singer Pat Benatar – who had eight consecutive Platinum-certified albums over in Canada – graced our ears with throughout the decade. However, none of the four-time Grammy winner’s hits struck quite the chord that 1983’s ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ had done with mainstream audiences and, although I often veer into the Alternative side of music for most of my musical musings, it is still important for us to remember that some of the artists that we all like have enjoyed commercial success. Often producing her music with guitarist Neil Giraldo, who also became her husband in the process, Benatar has had 15 top 40 singles on the US Billboard charts and she has sold a reported figure of over 35 million albums worldwide. ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ represented her move from melodramatic rock ballads to more melodic pop, and, even now, it is often still used to represent the sound of the 80’s, having been used recently in the hugely popular TV series ‘Stranger Things’. Memorable for its music video, which saw Benatar playing a rebellious young girl who runs away from home, the single was ranked at #30 of VHS’ list of the 100 Greatest Hits Of The 80’s and it reached the #1 spot in several territories, including Australia and The Netherlands, as well as the Rock Tracks Chart in the US, shortly following release. Let’s revisit it below.

Written by Holly Knight and Mike Chapman, ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ was initially meant to be a mid-tempo ballad, but Benatar was the only one to really see potential in the track because the studio executives had originally disliked it. After a little bit of time monkeying around with husband/producer Neil Giraldo on the drum machines in the studio, they created the more electronic sound of the finished piece. You can still hear that the guitars are present, but it put a unique spin on rock ‘n’ roll music at the time and it was quite a large switch in sound for Benatar to make back then. Given that it went straight to #5 on the US Billboard Chart, however, it’s fair to say that her risk paid off nicely. Moreover, the lyrics are kept to the point with a self-explanatory nature, as the lead character feels scorned and scarred by love. Benatar keeps her vocal performance feeling dynamic, with a spoken opening refrain that battles with her cleaner verse, and some twisting effects in the chorus. Hook-based lyrics like “We are strong/No one can tell us we’re wrong/Searching our hearts for so long” prove that Benatar is capable of producing some decent, catchy lyrics. The soundscape consistently shifts, with the refrain of “You’re begging me to go/Then making me stay” leading the slower refrain in the bridge that keeps the emotive vulnerability of a ballad intact. You can definitely hear that it was originally going to be a ballad and see where the significant rewrites were made when you know the backstory, but that background also clearly has something to do with what makes the lyrics so punchy and what makes the instrumentation feel so strong. Going from slow and somber to angry and melodic, ‘Love Is A Battlefield’ was simply a great Pop song from the 80’s and the Synths suit her vocals in place of the heavy rock influences of her earlier work, and so it is no wonder that it became one of the 80’s most cherished recordings.

Pictured: Pat Benatar in a PR photoshoot for ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ (1979) (Photo via V13.net/Chrysallis)

That’s all for now! Thank you for enjoying another swift blast from the past with me, and I’ll be back tomorrow to take you through some more brand new music. My next pick comes from an Alternative Folk singer-songwriter from New Zealand who was spotted by Anika Moa, another Folk-Pop singer-songwriter from New Zealand, who asked her to support her that night after finding her busking outside of the venue that she was going to play at. She has since released music on 4AD, Spunk and Flying Nun, and her fourth full-length LP – ‘Warm Chris’ – is set for its release on March 25th, 2022.

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Way Back Wednesdays: Natasha – ‘I Can’t Hold On’

February 2, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Natasha England in a PR photoshoot for a Penny Black Music interview (2018) (Photo via Facebook.com)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for us to take a quick detour from recent releases into my time machine for a throwback instead for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ as we revisit some of the seminal sounds of the past for yet another 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! If you type ‘Natasha Pop Singer’ into your favourite search engine on the internet, you’re likely to only mostly find photos and interviews regarding Natasha Bedingfield from the 2000’s. However, ‘Natasha’ was also the name of a Scottish pop singer who rose to prominence during the 1980’s with recordings like ‘Iko Iko’, a top ten hit in the UK. Known fully as Natasha England, she developed a career in the music industry after winning a dance competition as she worked behind the management chair of high-profile acts like David Bowie, Marc Bolan and Rod Stewart. She also set up the Towerbell record label with Bob England – her ex-husband – which broke names like The Commodores and The Average White Band into relevancy. She decided to work on animal rights issues after leaving the industry behind in the late-80’s, but she briefly fronted a band called ‘Why’ in the early 1990’s, before re-launching her career in the late-2000’s following her diagnosis with breast cancer. Recent releases have included a 2013 cover of T-Rex’s ‘Get It On’ and a collaboration with experimental producer, Robert Logan, known as ‘Album Deeper Into Reality’ that was released in 2010. A new album – ‘Somehow’ – was also made available in 2018. 1982’s ‘Captured’ – meanwhile – is considered by the folk at Cherry Red Records to be one of the most underrated albums of all time. Featuring a mixture of covers and self-penned original material, it not only featured her Top Of The Pops-worthy hit of ‘Iko Iko’, but also the underlooked anthem ‘I Can’t Hold On’, which is considered to be one of the earliest examples of, what would later become more known and hammered to crowds as later in the 80’s – Synth-Pop. Let’s revisit it.

In a similar vein to her fellow 80’s pop star Rick Astley, Natasha England has also enjoyed a commercial career resurgence during the last decade or so, and that is because her most well-known 80’s single ‘Iko Iko’, of course, was licensed by Platform Records to make a prominent sync appearance during the soundtrack of ‘Un Boss In Salotto’, which was the highest-grossing Italian film of 2014 at the box office. Back to the task at hand, we start off ‘I Can’t Hold On’ with a boisterous guitar riff and an immediate Synth riff that echoes Blondie and Eurythmics to my ears, before Natasha delivers the opening refrain of “I saw you standing there, that look was in your eyes/I’ve heard from other girls that you were quite a guy” with a slightly sassy but sensual vibe that mixes vulnerability and bitterness rather tidily. The chorus sees the funk-laden rhythm guitar melodies and the drum machine work-out reach a full crescendo, with the hooks of “Tonight, this feeling’s getting stronger” and “Tonight, I can’t hold on much longer” as our lead narrator takes a fall and enters a relationship that she fears is going to become toxic out of her lust and desire, with the swelling Synths and the sharp Drum beats ramping off of their brisk pace to add a darker underlayer to the vocals. Natasha keeps everything concise as to not overstay her welcome, and it is partly the infectious guitar riff of the track that really adds a lot of personality to it as it creates an atmospheric sheen for her lyrics while the rest of the instrumentation is upbeat and more alike to Prince or Blondie. It definitely sounds like a product of it’s time in one respect, but it was an important pre-cursor for the later acts who would achieve commercial success with a similar template. While it is not greatly original in retrospect, Natasha was simply one of the first to make it work in the way it does. A catchy, well-produced callback to the simpler times of the 1980’s.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Captured’ (LP) (Released In 1982) (via Metronome Records/Towerbell Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you very much for checking out the post that I have just written for your perusal today, and I hope that you join me for another music-related musing on the site tomorrow. We will be looking at an entirely new band from Melbourne, Australia who are known for their Gothic Lo-Fi imagery and they have experienced a 267 day-long Lockdown there. They were initially named Rosary and their debut EP out now via Dalliance was produced with Floodlights’ Archie Shannon.

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Today’s Track: Iraina Mancini – ‘Do It (You Stole The Rhythm)’

February 1, 2022 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Do It (U Stole The Rhythm)’ (Single) (Released on September 24, 2021) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you! It’s the first of the month, meaning that I have completed my challenge of the month to get through the month, and it’s time to get the next month off to a joyous start 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! Taking her inspiration from many sources as varied as French cinema and 60’s Psychedelia, the London-born singer, songwriter, DJ, actress, model and radio presenter Iraina Mancini has only released a handful of solo singles so far, but she has still been doing the rounds of the industry for an impressive number of years. Born into a musical family, her father was Warren Peace, a childhood friend of David Bowie, who provided backing vocals and songwriting assistance while touring with Bowie from 1973’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ through to 1976’s ‘Station To Station’. Iraina began modelling and writing music herself at the age of 15, with her first band being Mancini, an Electronic Pop outfit who appeared on Channel 4’s ‘Mobile Act Unsigned’. Since then, Mancini has been acting in films directed by the likes of Richard Jobson and Duncan Ward, and she went on to become a DJ who has played all over London and some cultural festivals like Glastonbury and The Toronto Film Festival. Mancini presents her own show on Soho Radio and she has also run a monthly event – ‘Soul Box’ – in East London with fashion photographer Dean Chalkley and Acid Jazz Records founder Eddie Piller. Therefore, she has really been busy through a relatively short span of time, and if a new album should be arriving in 2022, then I could definitely see the likes of BBC Radio 1 picking up on her career. Today, we are catching up with her single ‘Do It (You Stole The Rhythm)’ that she released last September. It was co-produced by Jagz Kooner, who has become a top name on the UK’s mash-up scene, where he has produced critically acclaimed music by Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream, Reverend And The Makers, Kasabian, Garbage and others. Let’s give it a spin.

“I wrote this about that feeling of pure joy when you are surrounded by people you care about and there is music, sunshine, laughter and great energy.”, the former United Agents talent agency member Iraina Mancini has spoken about her BBC Radio 6 Music playlisted track, adding, “There is almost a magic in the air when all those things are combined, an electricity that makes you feel truly alive. I tried to capture that in this song as I thought now more than ever we are craving togetherness and joy”, to her straightforward press release. Drawing from the era where late great DJ Andrew Weatherhall was always at his knob-twiddling best for his legendary records such as 1991’s ‘Screamadelica’ as she mixes classic Soul influences with ruminating Gospel sounds and vintage Psychedelia callbacks. The opening is palpable and light-hearted, as the twinkling waves of eminent Synths and an inviting beat of layered percussion create an enchanting backdrop for Iraina’s iridescently performed vocals to plunge us neatly into her sun-soaked setting of euphoria. The vocals feel a little reminiscent of tracks like George Michael’s ‘Freedom’ and The Avalanches ‘The Divine Chord’ as nostalgic elements of Post-Disco take a controlling hold on the rhythm. The lyrics contribute to the hazy and joyously Psychedelic Pop vibe of the recording by accelerating the happy tone of the instrumentation and creating some false rhyming schemes that give her beats a punchy knack for melody. It also feels a little cinematic, and I truly could envision the track being licensed to get played during a flashback sequence of a care-free romantic comedy movie where the two lead characters are partaking in a fun travelling montage, yet the souffle-light chorus and the late 60’s psychedelia-influenced melodies fill up the background of the setting very nicely. There’s nothing about the lyrics that feel truly memorable, but they still contribute to the overall scene well because they simply fulfill the track’s feelings of untroubled contentment by echoing us back to a more simpler time alongside the funk-laden Gospel influence of the glistening synths and the ruminating keys in the fray. A solid, naturally progressive follow-up to her two previous singles, ‘Deep End’ and ‘Shotgun’.

Pictured: Iraina Mancini in an official promotional photoshoot for ‘Deep End’ (2021) (Photo via Clashmusic.com)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another day! Thank you for checking out my latest post, and I will be back tomorrow to start up the engine for my throwback time machine as we go ‘Way Back’ for Wednesday once again. On the radar this time is a Scottish 80’s Synth-Pop singer often credited simply as ‘Natasha’ whose popular single of ‘Iko Iko’ experienced a resurgence in popularity when it was notably used during the soundtrack of the highest-grossing Italian film of 2014, ‘Un Boss In Salotto’.

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