Synthwave

Today’s Track: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – “The Distance”

October 16, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: TEED (Orlando Higginbottom) in an ‘I Can Hear The Birds’ EP shoot (2020) (via Pia Riverola)

Good Morning to you! You’re reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and I’ve got a new dance track to jumpstart your weekend for your daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! As I teased yesterday, ‘The Distance’ comes to you from a London-born Electronic House producer who I honestly believe is frequently at the top of my own underrated lists. The musician who consistently lives up to that pressure is Orlando Higginbottom – aka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – who swept me right off my feet and onto both the dancefloor and the bedroom with 2012’s ‘Trouble’, his major label debut album on Polydor Records. Although he has not released a full-length follow-up album since that year, to say the prehistorically-themed producer has been in hibernation until now would be simply far from the truth. In 2014, he launched the Nice Age cross platform label with a collaborative track featuring Anna Lunoe, and he’s continued to release a string of emotive yet vibrant singles like ‘Energy Fantasy’ and ‘Body Move’ and he even released a breath of fresh air during lockdown last year with his ‘I Can Hear The Birds’ EP, which was immensely enjoyable. I was delighted to hear ‘The Distance’, the title track from a new forthcoming EP that he will be releasing on his Nice Age label on October 27th, which is his first piece of new music since his ‘Heartbreak’ collaboration with Bonobo early last year. He is also a classically trained musician and the son of a former Oxford choir conductor, and he’s been injecting some colour into the UK’s club environments with his music and costumes since his late teens, commenting to Spin that he was looking for a name that “couldn’t be cool, couldn’t be put into some kind of scene that gets hip for six months and then falls out of fashion” in 2015. His 2012 album, ‘Trouble’, also found places in best of year lists compiled by DJ Magazine, iTunes UK, NME and the BBC. Let’s go ‘The Distance’ below.

Higginbottom has kept rather hush-hush about the influences behind his new EP, but his Bandcamp page has been teasing that ‘The Distance’ finds him stripping the sounds back to the core roots of his very early material that he released as mixtapes on the Greco-Roman label in the late 00’s and the early 10’s, where he explored warm Jungle melodies and ambiguous melancholy with a unique twist of emotional, quintessentially English heft of depth. The title track starts off with some chirping birds and a trickling series of Synth lines, with a muted croon about a lost lover from Higginbottom floating nicely over the top, before a more cinematic burst of Bass and some carefully treading Drum beats provide a more melodic and boastful bassline. The rest of his lyrics are delivered quite hazily and nostalgically, with Higginbottom singing quietly about the memories of a past romance of which, however much that he tries to let go and live on, continues to submerge him in memory and youth. There’s certainly a slight hint of nostalgia in his vocal performance that feels small but profound, and it works very smoothly when married by the atmospheric instrumentation and the diverse tones of the electronic production that he creates. The melodies are a little disorienting and they feel fragmented in nature, which fits the themes of temporary pleasure and preserved sentimentality that is explored by the irregular time signatures and the wistful textures of his sound. Overall, ‘The Distance’ is an outstanding tune that continues to cement his status as one of the UK’s most exciting talents over the course of his career, and he lives up to my lofty anticipations once again pretty confidently and easily. It really takes me back to why I enjoyed his work so much in the first place, and that’s because he makes ‘The Distance’ feel like more than just another dance track from one of the UK’s hundreds of electronic music producers. He takes me back to the tone and style of his previous work by recording vocals that sound deliberately shaky and plaintive. They are imperfect, and this gets a wealth of genuine emotional depth across to my ears as the listener. The diffracting melodies feel deep and fractured, yet the Synth lines feel as refreshing as the first rays of sunshine after a pitch black and frosty January night, and the combo of the Drum and Bass sections continue to inject vibrancy and energy into the recording, with a cohesive variation of dance-based genre influences and an archetypal English feel to the harsh, but fair, bleakness of the songwriting. A truly exceptional effort from a genuinely talented and fulfilling, remarkable music creative.

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘The Distance’ (EP) (Available on October 27th, 2021) (via Nice Age Records)

I hope that you enjoyed my latest blog post, and that you feel encouraged to check out some of Orlando Higginbottom’s other work. You can start with a few snippets on my blog, with a short review of his Bonobo-led collaboration for ‘Outlier’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/10/06/todays-track-bonobo-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs-heartbreak/. I have also talked about his birdsong EP released in lockdown in 2020, which makes for a refreshing change of pace and it was named my second favourite EP of the year. Sample ‘Los Angeles’ from it here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/08/05/todays-track-totally-enormous-extinct-dinosaurs-los-angeles/

Pictured: TEED with Bonobo (Simon Green) in a ‘Heartbreak’ PR shoot (2020) (Photo by Grants Panier)

Thank you for checking out my blog today, and please feel free to revisit some of the ghosts of Pop-Punk past with me for a fresh new entry in our ‘Scuzz Sundays’ library tomorrow. This week’s entry marks the debut appearance from a Florida Rock group who met at an AP Music Theory class in 2001. They have released five albums to date.

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Today’s Track: Caribou – “You Can Do It”

October 11, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Dan Snaith (aka Caribou) at a mural to accompany the ‘Suddenly’ press kit (2020) (via PR)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and the time has come for me to fulfill my everyday challenge of delivering another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of new music every day! As a PhD degree holder in Mathematics from Imperial College London and as the son and brother of a pair of Mathematicians in his family, the 43-year-old Canadian-born Experimental Electronic Dance music producer Dan Snaith (Primarily known for his main alias of Caribou) has always been known for his very complex patterns and layered Synth work in his compositions across notable releases like 2010’s ‘Sun’ and 2001’s ‘Breaking My Heart’, which landed a spot on Pitchfork’s list of ‘The 50 Best IDM Albums Of All-Time’ in 2017. His latest LP – 2020’s ‘Suddenly’ – earned similar praise from different publications and my humble little blog that your eyes are focusing on right now, earning a spot on my list of the ‘Top 25 Best Albums Of 2020’ late last year. The associated tour for the record, however, was originally set to take place in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic reared it’s ugly head into our lives. Snaith’s world tour was postponed again for 2021, before it was later to be indefinitely shelved. Now, the meticulous craftsman has announced that he will indeed be hitting the road in the UK this month and the US in early 2022, and ‘You Can Do It’ is a new single that avid Caribou fans will be hearing across headline festival sets and solo arena shows from Snaith over the course of the next year, as a bonus treat to coincide with the cheerful announcement that was made by Snaith a handful of weeks ago. Snaith has also released music as Manitoba and Daphni, and he has been working with Shynola’s Richard Kenworthy for the official music video that sees adorable pooches catching some frisbees to the beat of Snaith’s mastery. Be reminded that ‘You Can Do It’ below.

Dan Snaith gave a shout out to Migle / Kennel UPE in the description for the music video for ‘You Can Do It’ on YouTube, and the beloved IDM producer made his return to touring with a performance at London’s All Points East festival in late August and he premiered the new track during his set at Green Man Festival over the weekend prior. You can catch Snaith playing some shows in Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester and a few more locations in the UK later this month, and he’ll be hitting sites in Glasgow, Bristol and Brighton in January 2022, before touring in the US, Canada and Europe across the new year. ‘You Can Do It’ will likely not suprise you if you are familiar with Snaith’s work already, but this is still classic Caribou at his finest. The sparkling lyric of ‘You Can Do It’ is layered over and over again to a brain-dancing degree, before a slowed down ‘Do It’ sequence takes a decent precedence over the repetition, with the continuous vocals becoming more garbled and warped as the literal distillation of the hook continues along. The warm and 90’s-leaning instrumentation makes up for the lack of variety in the songwriting for the diverse array of moods that it creates alone, however, and the rippling sentiments of the echoed vocals are spread across the coherent duration of the tune with a signature heartfelt sensibility and gets packed into the euphoric sound of a festival-ready dance hit. The energetic delivery of the Synth arrangements whip up a tone that feels celebratory and jubilant, while the sound strikes a fairly similar style to 2020’s ‘Suddenly’ where the tempo changes feel drastic, but they feel light-hearted and boundless in flow. Overall, while the sugar-colored theme lacks a little inspiration, the production is faultless and the warmly lit mood sounds appealing to a diverse group of audiences. He is ace – is our Dan Snaith.

  • Pictured: Dan Snaith in a PR photoshoot for a ‘Stereogum’ Q&A interview (2014) (Photo via PR)

Dan Snaith is a familiar face to us on the blog, and so his music has been covered a few times on the site before. His ‘Suddenly’ single landed a place on Pitchfork’s list of ‘The 30 Best Electronic Music Releases Of 2020’, and made an appearance on the blog here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/02/28/todays-track-caribou-never-come-back/. You can also read my thoughts on ‘You & I’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/12/09/todays-track-caribou-you-i/, and check out his initial comeback track ‘Home’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/28/todays-track-caribou-home/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Suddenly’ (LP) (Released on February 28th, 2020) (via Merge Records)

That brings us to the bottom of the page for another day! Thank you for checking out my latest blog post, and I’ll be back tomorrow for an in-depth look at some brand new music from an Essex-born Neo-Soul singer-songwriter who grew up playing the Celtic Harp – and she attended the Purcell School For Young Musicians with Mica Levi.

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Today’s Track: Tycho & Benjamin Gibbard – “Only Love”

October 2, 2021 — Leave a comment
  • Pictured: Tycho (Scott Hansen) & Benjamin Gibbard in a PR shoot for ‘Only Love’ (2021) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time to liven up your day with a clash between two titans on the blog, whilst reminding you that it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Today’s new selection marks the joint venture point between Ben Gibbard – the frontman of the Platinum-selling Alternative Rock group Death Cab For Cutie – and the nature-centric IDM producer Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) who you might also know as the graphical designer ISO50. As well as being known for his visual art, Hansen is known for using environmental sounds as a resource for his material, such as the sounds of weather footage that he blends with Ambient Electronica sounds and his Folk-led, downtempo guitar work. We last heard Gibbard on the hard-hitting mid-pandemic charity single ‘Life In Quarantine’ on the blog last summer, while we covered Tycho’s single ‘Outer Sunset’ – taken from his ‘Simulcast’ album of reworked mixes from 2019’s ‘Weather’ LP – back in early January on the blog. ‘Only Love’ is a new single that brings the two notable names in music together. It is interesting to note that it is also the first time that Gibbard has participated in a major electronic collaboration since his Platinum-certified work with The Postal Service more than a decade ago. ‘Only Love’ originally began its life as an instrumental track with a crucially missing vocal element, before Hansen decided to reach out to Gibbard as a fan of his work with an offer to produce a remix for Death Cab For Cutie’s 2016 track ‘The Ghosts Of Beverley Drive’, a trail of correspondence which has led to the two musicians crafting something in the studio together. Gibbard has also recalled in interviews that the lyrics and concept of ‘Only Love’ were influenced by a section of Naomi Klein’s book ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate’ which Gibbard read in 2004. Let’s hear their results below.

A peaceful protest tune with a calm tone, Hansen said in a press release, “Ben’s voice was a very inspiring element to work with from a production standpoint; I felt it really meshed well with the kinds of sounds and instrumentation I gravitate toward”, while Gibbard has also shown a labor of love for the link up in his own press notes, telling Rolling Stone about the literature influence, “When Scott sent me the music for ‘Only Love, it seemed perfect for this statement. Since reading Alexis’ words, I’ve carried them as a universal truth; that the only way we preserve the people, places, or things we care for is with love, not hatred” in his own words. When I first heard ‘Only Love’, I honestly felt that it sounded a lot like Miami Horror. The vocal harmonies are very radiant and 80’s-leaning, while the Synth arrangements are soothing and bright. There are some bubbling guitar riffs that add some more colour and Pop-oriented melodies to the proceedings, while the Drums explode with a somewhat psychedelic and progressive Folk flair. The lyrics are kept concise and tight, with Gibbard just promising “No voices of anger/No threshing fists” and “No last chances missed/No Savior to arrive” above the sparkling Synthwave beats and the Lo-Fi production that pings around in your head. There’s a delicate sense of longing to the vocals, while the repeating line of “Only love can save this place” continues to repeat amongst the mixture of mid-tempo arrangements. A vibe of cathartic and deeply humanist lyricism is present as usual from Gibbard’s performance, while the 80’s-inflicted Synth Pop style of Tycho’s production adds a simple, but timeless feeling to the proceedings. There isn’t a ton of variety to the songwriting here, but the different arrangements and the nostalgic feel of the overall production seems like enough to maintain your interest. It is unclear whether this is a one-off release or whether Hansen and Gibbard will come together for a project like an EP (As we have seen with short-form releases from combinations like Khraungbin & Leon Bridges and MNDSGN & Lionmilk over the last few years), but I would certainly enjoy hearing more ideas being explored by this team-up. Quite uplifting and human in character, ‘Only Love’ sounds like a worthy addition to the discography of two great musicians who have probably earned a spot in your own record collection, in some form and at some point, already. A solid listen.

  • Pictured: Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) at Greek Theatre, Los Angeles (in 2019) (Photo Credit: Jon Bauer)

As mentioned earlier, we have previously taken a look at some solo work from Benjamin Gibbard and the San Francisco-based composer Tycho. If you haven’t shaken off those face mask and hand sanitizer blues yet, you can still take things down a notch with my assessment of Gibbard’s ‘Life In Quarantine’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/04/25/todays-track-benjamin-gibbard-life-in-quarantine/. Or, for more of Tycho, plug your earphones in and listen to ‘Outer Sunset’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/01/09/todays-track-tycho-outer-sunset/

  • Pictured: Benjamin Gibbard recording ‘Life In Quarantine’ at home (2020) (Photo Credit: KEXP.org)

That’s all for now! Thank you lots for joining me on the blog today, and I’ll be back tomorrow for something completely different in tone as we celebrate ‘Scuzz Sundays’ for yet another week. This week, we’re going back to the early-00’s discography of a very popular US heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa who had a number one album within the UK Albums Chart as recently as 2019. Their frontman, Corey Taylor, once appeared on an episode of BBC 2’s ‘QI’ as a panelist that was broadcast in 2016.

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New Album Release Fridays: Soccer96 (feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis) – ‘Sitting On A Satellite’

September 24, 2021 — Leave a comment
Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Dopamine’ (LP) (Released on September 24th, 2021) (via Moshi Moshi Records)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It has been a very slow week, and so I’m looking forward to taking it all down a notch with the help of the new highly anticipated album release from the London-based Drum and Synth duo Soccer96. There’s also new albums from Public Service Broadcasting, Wigan local heroes The Lathums, Marlowe’s lyricist Solemn Brigham, Merge Records’ label boss Mac MacCaughan, intriguing World-infused UK Drum & Bass producer Zen Dub, and more hitting both digital and physical storefronts for ‘New Album Release Fridays’ this week. As aforementioned, Soccer 96’s new album is one of the few LP releases that I can childishly say that I’ve been ‘Hyped up’ for in a while, based on the quality of their prior work, the singles taken from the album so far, and the general excitement about this release in Alternative music circles. Soccer96 is the side project of keyboardist Dan Leavers (‘Danalogue’) and drummer Max Hallett (‘Betamax’) from the Prog-Jazz trio The Comet Is Coming who, for those still uninitiated, are a terrific London-based Nu-Jazz trio also involving Shabaka Hutchings (‘King Shabaka’) who were nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2016 and were signed to Impulse! Records in 2018. Leavers has produced albums for Ibibio Sound Machine and Snapped Ankles, while Hallett has played the Drums with the likes of Sons Of Kemet and Yussef Kamal, and so the two musicians are very active on the UK’s underground scene. Together, Soccer96 specialise in a really diverse blend of Prog-Jazz, Instrumental Grime, Dark Ambient and Electronica that always feels as fresh and eclectic as ever. Their new album, ‘Dopamine’ – also featuring collaborations with Salami Rose Joe Louis and Nuhu Ruby Ra – is being released digitally today, with a short stint of physical transparent blue/marble brown Vinyl copies set to follow on 15th October, which are limited to just 300 copies on Rough Trade’s website. Check out the latest single below.

‘Dopamine’ is a concept album exploring the narrative of an artificial intelligence programme taking over a human nervous system, a sci-fi vision of a codependency between humans and machines, as the robots only source of dopamine is from people, and vice versa. It began life as a sonic reaction to the graphic novels of Moebius’ Jean Giraud, and the duo displayed one of the revered French artists’ paintings in the middle of their studio when recording the album for inspiration. Hallett told XLR8R, “All musical decisions would centre around this image. It was a depiction of a cosmic traveler gazing across a desert at a sort of crystal city. If the music was resonating with the image then we knew we were on the right path” in an interview. As a single itself, ‘Sitting On A Satellite’ is very obedient to these visual ideas, with the two very talented players conjuring up an Astral set of themes with the Space-Age synths, the hazily atmospheric tones and the pulsating drum rhythms that give the duo the platform to express themselves creatively with no ties to their previous projects, giving them ample creative freedom in their approach. The vocals, meanwhile, are highly processed and they seem to depict the double alter-ego system of an AI gaining human consciousness. Together, everything makes for a very hypnotic and entrancing blend of refreshing keyboard sections, laidback Drum grooves and intoxicated vocals that give off a wonky feel to the eclectic graphical influences. There feels like less of a Grime influence that we heard on The Comet Is Coming, but the London Jazz blueprints are still intact, with a colourful set of ambient instrumentals and broad sweeps of percussion that bring the duo’s niche cyber-imagination of androids to life. All in all, this is an inventive and visually creative twist on Progressive Jazz – with some vibrant experimentation and some Gorillaz-esque vocals that just orbit around the listeners ears with a calm confidence.

Pictured: Dan Leavers (Keyboard/Synths) and Max Hallett (Drums) (2021) (Photo by William Barnes)

As mentioned above, we’re all great fans of The Comet Is Coming on the blog, and, to help them take off, we’ve covered some more of their spacey stuff on the blog. Check out ‘Lifeforce Part II’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/09/28/todays-track-the-comet-is-coming-lifeforce-part-2/

Pictured: Betamax & Danalogue with King Shabaka Hutchings in The Comet Is Coming (2019) (via PR)

That’s all for now! Thank you for joining me on the blog, and I’ll be back for more tomorrow. Join me then for something a little more radio-friendly (But still quite cool) single from a Liverpool-formed indie band who have been around since 2003. The band, known for the frontman’s smarky witticisms and realistic depictions of young adult issues, have released music for 14th Floor Records and Bright Antenna Records, and the veteran rockers have sold over one million copies of their albums worldwide.

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Today’s Track: Joey Pecoraro – “You Never Told Me That”

May 18, 2021 — Leave a comment

A humble fella making Music For Happiness and your Imagination. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Old Time Radio” (LP) (Available from May 21, 2021) (via Alpha Pup)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and, as you may have probably imagined by now, it’s time for me to get typing up for your track of the day on the blog, as per usual, since it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write about a different piece of music every day! Aged 26, the Detroit-based independent electronica producer Joey Pecoraro studied Film at The University Of Michigan. That’s where he fell in love with the films and, evidently, the Radio plays of the 1930’s and the 1940’s, and he began to make his own music in his bedroom ever since 2014. His music takes on a Chillwave sound that also incorporates elements of Lo-Fi and Instrumental Hip-Hop music. He also loves to keep his own details very brief, simply describing himself as “Joey is a guy from Michigan who makes music for your emotions” for his biography on Spotify. His new album, ‘Old Time Radio’, follows up 2019’s ‘Deep In A Dream Of You’ EP and 2020’s ‘Sea Monster’ LP, and it releases this Friday via the Los Angeles-based indie label Alpha Pup Records. Check out his new single – ‘You Never Told Me That’ – below.

I first caught wind of Joey Pecoraro’s bedroom productions by hearing ‘Train, Cold, Snow’ on KCRW’s Today’s Top Tune podcast filled of daily samplers that you can download for free, and I’ve been keeping up with the new singles from his new album with keen ears since then. An interview from last year that I found suggests that he’s been listening to a lot of Buerno Pernadas and Westerman since the Lockdown era began last Spring, which have no doubt inspired the sonic direction for his latest body of work, which seemingly sees Pecoraro experimenting with samples from radio dramas he has either filtered or looped to make them sound vintage, or has used clips from authentic radio plays of a bygone era. Either way, it feels unusual and creative, and he certainly seems to be very unique for his age, especially. For ‘You Never Told Me That’, we freefall easily into what sounds like dialogue from a dated radio play scene of the 50’s or a deleted out-take from an old-time Christmas film like ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’. It’s not exactly clear what is being said, but it just establishes the tone softly and sweetly. From there, the creative direction goes into a more Instrumental style because the intellectual delivery of the script gets swiftly replaced by the sounds of insects chirping happily, twinkling Keyboard melodies and Classical String sections that seem happy to lurk out of the centre. Wordless vocals are layered above the top with a harmonic progression, as the Synths of the track continue to pave their own way for an arrangement that feels lush, relaxed and soothing. It all feels virtuosic, with seemingly obscure samples that have been tinkered away at and merticulously layered to create an absorbing atmosphere that induces calm and invites for you to have a moment to think as it’s listener. Sure, it never really goes anywhere. However, it doesn’t need to. This one disregards typical traits of Pop and Rock music like catchy hooks or poly-rhythms for the most part, and instead, it dedicates a space to convey a mood and a feeling. It also reminds me of The Avalanches, and he said that he loves them while responding to a YouTube comment from a fan asking him about them in one of his recent single uploads. This music is totally right up my street. Love this one.

  • Pictured: Joey Pecoraro in a Magnetic Magazine press shoot (2020) (Photography by Diana Georgie)

That’s all, folks! Join me again for ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ tomorrow, where we will be revisiting an unlikely UK Top 20 chart success upon it’s re-release in 1984 produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley who have produced records for Madness and Elvis Costello back in the day. The artist was an English stand-up comedian, whose surrealist humor is in the vein of Monty Python or Billy Connolly, who was voted the 18th ‘Greatest Stand-Up Comic Of All-Time’ by the viewers of Channel 4’s ‘100 Greatest Stand Ups’ television one-off programme in 2007. 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: Vegyn – “B4 The Computer Crash”

April 26, 2021 — Leave a comment

Can I tell you a Vegan Dad joke? I promise you that it won’t be cheesy. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Like A Good Old Friend” (EP) (Released on Mar 19, 2021) (via PLZ Make It Ruins)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, 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! I have been playing ‘B4 The Computer Crash’ – twice, actually – on my little radio show, and it comes from an artist who I wasn’t familiar with at all before I caught wind of him on KEXP’s Song Of The Day podcast. Vegyn is the alias of Joe Thornalley, a British, but now Los Angeles-based, electronic IDM music producer known for his production work on two albums from Frank Ocean in the past. In 2019, he released his debut solo album which saw collaborations with Retro X, Jeshi and Freddie Gibbs making the rounds. This year, he’s back with a new EP ‘Like A Good Old Friend’, released last month on his own PLZ Make It Ruins label. As you may have guessed from the title of the new short form record, some of his friends make appearances, the likes of which include London rapper John Glacier, pianist Duval Timothy and the lapsteel guitarist Daniel Aged, all bringing unconventional sensibilities to his core sound. Check out the sampler below.

An episode of depression influenced the mental health struggles being explored in the ‘Like A Good Old Friend’ EP, as he told The Face, “A friend let me stay at their house and they happened to have a piano”, “I was like ‘cool’, OK, I’m just gonna try and figure this thing out”, before he broke it down with, “My chords are definitely weird, but to me they’re not weird. I’m really just playing with shapes and trying to lean into the emotive quality of the music”, in the interview. For me, a Jazz sensibility can be read between the lines of ‘B4 The Computer Crash’ with freestyle melodies and playful beats providing a slightly quirky, but emotionally driven, undertone to the table. The rest of the track swoops in for a 90’s Deep House or slightly Acid Techno feel, as trippy pacing and glitching effects are also commonplace. For my own interpretation of the track, it reminds me of the times when we’re pushing forwards after a bad situation, but whatever is troubling is, comes back and makes us sad again, before briefly being pushed to the back of our minds again, before making us grieve again later. It’s not depressive or anything like that, but it’s depicting a struggle with mental health in an accurate way. The push-and-pull pacing of the track is reminiscent of the push-and-pull nature of sadness, but that is not to say that we don’t find the positive within the negative. These warped beats are matched with a somehow slick, polished and smooth bassline that feels ambient and nostalgic, and so it contrasts the darker edges of the experience with some overlapping warmth. Before, of course, a brief meltdown comes into play once again. The lo-fi Hip Hop beat comes through nicely, and the retro internet dial-up effects play on memory. Familiar, but not too comfortable, Vegyn has released one of the most delightfully unique electronic singles of the year with an excellent balance between warmth and warped.

  • Pictured: Vegyn (aka Joe Thornally) in a recent publicity shoot (2021) (Photo Credit: i-d.vice.com)

That’s all for now – let’s hope the computer doesn’t crash again. Tomorrow’s track sees the triumphant return of one of my favourite modern artists, who has confirmed that her new album will be releasing in September. One day after my birthday, weirdly enough. It’s the follow-up to her breakout third studio album, which won awards for Best Album at the NME Awards and Ivor Novello Awards, as well as being nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2019. 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: Hannah Peel – “Ecovocative”

April 22, 2021 — Leave a comment

You better not slip over a Banana ‘Peel’ on your way to work after this. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Fir Wave” (LP) (Released on March 26th, 2021) (via My Own Pleasure)

Good Afternoon to you – I’m Jacob Braybrooke and since I’ve got my radio show for this week queued up (That’s 7pm on OMG Radio if you fancy tuning in), it’s time for me to quickly get typing up 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! ‘Ecovocative’ comes to you from the Northern Irish electronic composer Hannah Peel, who is known for blending Classical instrumentation with the latest high-tech Synth gear. She has also composed scores and soundtracks for numerous film and TV productions as well as some theater and dance stage shows, including work on a documentary about ‘Game Of Thrones’. Her sixth album is called ‘Fir Wave’ and it looks at the different cyles of life through a sound design lens. She was inspired to create the work by Delia Derbyshire, who lived on until 2001 as a bit of an unsung hero. She deserved more credit for carrying out the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960’s and creating the iconic theme tune for ‘Doctor Who’. The likes of Aphex Twin, The Chemical Brothers and Orbital have all cited her as a major influence during interviews in the past. For her latest record, which was released on March 26th via My Own Pleasure, Peel was allowed the permission to access the database of Derbyshire and the Radiophonic Workshop by the specialist library organisation KPM, allowing Peel to re-interpret the ‘Electrosonic’ work of Derbyshire to create an Experimental Electronic Ambient album that is thematically based around climate change and sustainability. Let’s check out the puntastic track – ‘Ecovocative’ – below.

Hannah said: “I’m finding it harder to express all those huge feelings and lyrics in words like I used to” in an interview for the new album recording, elaborating, “Instrumental Music can conjure so much more with this new track, I wanted to evoke those patterns in nature, celebrate the detail, the changes in light, play with primal shimmering energy, using obscure bells and the bubbling beats of electronic music” when she mentioned her recent single, following up on a stint when she curated BBC Radio 3’s ‘Night Tracks’ programme. While the publicity chatter drums up music influences of 70’s early Ambient and the Hauntology sub-genre, ‘Ecovocative’ brings up imagery of East Asian biomes and outer Tokyo, feudal Japan aesthetics for me. With no lyrics to construct a meaning from, the context radiates from the clicky Bass sounds and the swelling Synth melodies instead for me. While the heavily electronic instrumentation has not been discarded entirely and dubbed over with natural instrumentation, there’s still something that feels almost ritualistic and pure about the sequences of sound. The opening sounds a little unsettling and evokes a theme of paranoia with slowly glimmering depth, but the tone feels like it’s becoming progressively more hopeful, with a rhythmic drum beat which twinkles and forms a chorus of-sorts in the early going. The chord progression continues to change keys slowly, as the low-lit, gurgling undercurrrent lingers in the background beneath the tolling, Bell-like synths. To me, it feels relaxing and it seems visually broad, but the direct meanings feel unexplored and vague. On the whole, it sounds infinitely tinkered with and merticulously layered, but the slow-burning movements pay off with the gradual introduction of new beats. It dances around your ears and radiates with a circling effect, and so it achieves the explorations of life cycles with a nice level of vibrancy. I feel like I might need to be in a certain frame of mind to enjoy the album as a whole, but the three minute duration of the track glides by very smoothly overall.

  • Pictured: Hannah Peel before a “First Cut Interview” feature (2017) (Photo via MusicTech.net)

The bell tolls for another day – and you can join me again tomorrow for a new entry in our “New Album Release Friday” series, as we shine the spotlight upon one of this week’s most promising new releases. We’re going to be looking at the much-anticipated new album from one of the leading figures behind the young scene of the UK’s Jazz circuit. Signed to Anti- Records, this male producer taught himself to produce beasts in East Ham, London – inspired by his hip-hop sampler heroes Madlib and J Dilla. 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: Iden Kai – “Disco James”

April 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

My haircut would be right for a Silent Disco – no volume what-so-ever. New post time!

  • Pictured: Front Sleeve for “Disco Fortuna” (Released on January 15, 2021) (via Neon City Records)

Good Afternoon to you (Borderline Evening) – I am Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s finally time again for me to get scribbling up about your track of the day on the blog, as per typical, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Bandcamp is a truly excellent resource for finding some rarities from some of the world’s independent creatives, and one of my recent discoveries has been Iden Kai’s new album, ‘Disco Fortuna’, which was released to the app and wherever you stream your music on January 15th via Neon City Records. I could find very little information on Iden (Which is pronounced as “Eiden”) when I had searched him up on the web, other than knowing how he pronounces his name and that he is a Mexican DJ and Electonic Funk record producer. However, he seems to be gaining some rock solid traction with those who enjoy their Future Funk and Disco revivialist anthems – for instance – he currently has 3.3k montly followers on Spotify and ‘Disco Fortuna’ has amassed over 10k streams on the platform as well, which is pretty good going for someone so off-the-radar online. Check out the single, ‘Disco James’, below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFcIe-JACzA

Iden Kai offers up his mixes to the currently popular ‘Future Funk’ sub-genre, which, if you are not familiar with the name of this style of music, it pays homage to the viral culture of Synthwave, Chillwave and Vaporwave, but ultimately takes on a more hyper-melodic and anime-style visual work that is defined partly by it’s samples of rare smooth jazz, R&B and lounge Jazz recordings of the 80’s. In more simpler terms, it’s basically the most “poppy” music that you could probably come across, with young artists who share their material around places like YouTube. It’s sometimes seen as quite a trashy and disposable style of production, but like with any good art, it just depends how you treat the genre and what credibility you strive to add to it. ‘Disco James’ is actually a nice way to get acquainted with the relatively new sub-genre. It strips away the more ‘trashy’ qualities of the early-2010’s internet meme culture for me, and it provides an update to 90’s house that feels driven by more Japanese influences. The sound is strikingly upbeat, as Horn melodies and synth instrumentation provides a throwback feel designed to get the party grooving. Meanwhile, the vocal samples are chopped up and screwed up, the lyrics barely inaudible, to also carry across a Metropolitan aesthetic. The keys are playful and the effects experiment with nostalgic moods, with a breakdown towards the end of the track that feels less Jazz-influenced and more video game sound directed. Of course, there’s quite little here in the way of original material from the artist – but it seems like the goal for Iden was to re-purpose these prominent samples of vintage tunes for appeal towards a fresh audience. While it probably won’t appeal to everybody for it’s disposable approach to art, depending on who you ask, it’s earned a few good repeat listens from me. Super melodic, emphasizing on fun and knowingly nodding to the 80’s with care, there’s enough here to keep the party dancing all through a long night.

  • Pictured: Still image from the ‘Disco Fortuna’ music video (2021) (Photo by Real Love Music)

Thank you for checking out my latest post – I did try to beef it up! This one should get the extended bank holiday weekend moving in style. The festivities continue tomorrow with our ‘New Album Release Friday’ section – where we take a sampler of one of Good Friday’s new album releases. Tomorrow’s track comes from a fresh South London 4-piece group who have been fusing witty, jumbled Spoken Word sections with Post-Rock guitar shredding to unanimously praised effect! 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: Boards Of Canada – “Seeya Later”

March 17, 2021 — Leave a comment

Ripe for repeated listening, or is it easy to get Board of this instead? Let’s go Way Back!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Twoism” (EP) (Released in August, 1995) (via Music70)

Good Morning to you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke and, well – you know the drill by this point – it’s time for me to get typing up for your weekly revisit of the sounds from the past which have influenced those of the present, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If the name of Boards Of Canada seems familiar to you, you’re either already one of the beloved cult followers of the group who possibly paid $800 to obtain your own copy of their debut ‘Twoism’ EP following it’s release in 1995, since the original distribution was scarcely limited to 100 copies before Warp Records gave it a quiet re-issue in 2002, or you read my previous post about them back in October or November time. Whichever route applies to you – the fact remains that Boards Of Canada are, if not the most well-known in terms of mainstream recognition, still one of the most devotedly followed Electronic music acts of our time. Just for the record, the bandwagon for 1998’s ‘Music Has The Right To Children’ is one that I’ve definitely jumped onto, as I think that it is a truly exceptional record. Made up of the Scottish brother DJ duo of Marcus Eoin and Mike Sandison, BOC represent an interesting flipside for electronic music production practice for me, where the tropes of club music being developed in London or Birmingham are turned on their heads by the brothers originally creating their music with vintage synthesizers and dated samples in a rural community in Scotland, where they have since kept very reclusive from the media, with very little interviews or performances existing. I’ve been delving deep into the back catalog of the brothers over the last two months or so, and so it’s been interesting to see where their formula of nature centric themes and nostalgic qualities started for them. In the typical BOC fanbase fashion, you can check out the fan-made video for ‘Seeya Later’ – taken from their debut EP ‘Twoism’ – created for YouTube by Saint Santiago – below.

Eoin and Sandison took their name from the children’s educational films distributed from The National Film Board Of Canada which they grew up watching at a toddler-level age, and they also pulled off the most, if not one of the most, elaborate ‘Easter Egg’ hunts in the marketing campaign building to the release of their most recent release, 2013’s ‘Tomorrow’s Harvest’. There really is a lot of fascinating information about them out there, which is too lengthy for just a simple blog post, so I would look them up after you’ve read this if that sounds interesting to you, but, for now, it’s back to the matter at hand. ‘Seeya Later’ was originally released by the duo as part of the ‘Twoism’ EP on their own label, Music70, and it later appeared on their ‘Hi-Scores’ EP in 1996 as well, where you can also find earlier versions of a few tracks that later appeared on their aforementioned breakthrough release, MHTRC. Chris Horne, a since lost third BOC member, also contributed to this release. Although not as commonly talked about as ‘Sixtyniner’, I feel that ‘Seeya Later’ still makes for an effective insight into the core formula of BOC’s initial musical practice. The track has a slightly darker vibe to some of MHTRC’s most popular recordings for me. Although not as haunting as the anti-religion nods of ‘Geogaddi’, it sounds like something that you may expect to hear on Aphex Twin’s ‘I Care Because You Do’ all the same. The bassline lightly throbs among the high percussion sounds, with trickling synths that evoke a somewhat unsettling atmosphere. This instrumentation doesn’t fluctuate very much throughout the track, but it remains interesting enough due to the ghostly textures and the intriguing ambience that hold your interest. The melancholic drum beats and the more downtempo influences, like much of BOC’s work, is housed in a driving Hip-Hop breakbeat dressing, which gives it a sense of memorability and pushes the beats forward. I would say that it feels a little bit unfinished, but I think the BOC brothers primarily used the ‘Twoism’ EP as a demo tape to get interest from labels, and so I can forgive the very direct and singular beats being a little exhausting by the end here. Overall, though, it is still a fascinating companion piece to their later work, with less of a child-like feel, more of a dream-like trance. Although it may feel like a sonically incomplete Boards Of Canada, that can make this all the more appealing to seek out.

  • Pictured: Marcus Eoin and Marcus Sandison in a vintage press shot (unknown date) (via Warp Records)

If you think the BOC are brilliant, you can check out how I initially felt about their music through an early listen of ‘An Eagle Of Your Mind’ from 98’s ‘Music Has The Right To Children’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/03/todays-track-boards-of-canada-an-eagle-in-your-mind-1998/

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Music Has The Right To Children” (LP) (Released in 1998) (via Warp Records)

Thank you for checking out my latest blog post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with an in-depth look at a recent track from an emerging Folk/Blues singer-songwriter who, by day, teaches English in Boyle Heights but, after dark, gets busy writing tunes like ‘Swim Test’, which is based on her father who can’t swim, despite living next to the beach for decades. 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: SG Lewis (feat. RHYE) – “Time”

March 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

Let’s find out if his latest mix is worth jamming out to Time after Time. New post time!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Times” (LP) (Released on February 19, 2021) (via Jasmine Music Limited)

Good morning to you, I am Jacob Braybrooke and it’s time for me to get writing up or your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to get typing up about a different piece of music! New month, new music – and that sentiment feels certainly true for the Reading-born electronic dance music producer, SG Lewis. Samuel George Lewis has just released his debut studio album, “Times”, through Virgin EMI and PMR Records, becoming his landmark full-length release after he began posting his own retrospective, uplifting club anthems online to streaming formats like Soundcloud. Inspired by the Sophisti-Pop of James Blake and Bon Iver, and the club-oriented Hip-Hop sounds of artists like Common and Timbaland, Lewis made a name for himself on viral platforms, while sharpening his live mixing skills by getting involved in the nightlife of his local scene in Liverpool. The superb Orlando Higginbottom (a.k.a. TEED) has a production credit on “Times”, but you will also find collaborations with Nile Rogers, Channel Tres, Robyn, Frances and more on the record too. SG Lewis has also established creative partnerships with Raye, LANY and Bruno Major over the course of his young pro career as well. The opening track, and fourth single, on the LP is “Time”, a laidback Disco-House fusion track that features a soulful vocal performance from Canadian R&B singer-songwriter RHYE, who featured on the blog with his new solo work on this blog just two weeks ago. Let’s take a listen below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT01-5HxgDk

A record that pays loving tribute to Deep House, Chillwave, Synth-Funk and Dance-Pop music, SG Lewis announced “Times” as his first high profile release since his interconnected suite of “Dusk”, “Dark” and “Dawn” EP’s over the last two years, through his popular social media accounts back in late-October. With the announcement, he clarified that “This album is an ode to the present moment, and the finite chances we have to celebrate it. It’s an exploration of escapism and euphoria, and the memories attached to these experiences”, in conveying the moods and tones explored within the 40-minute recording. Kicking us off, “Time” is a taster that sets the scene for the rest of the track listing, with a vocal sample taken from “Don’t Look Any Further” by Denis Edwards. It paves the way for the light Garage beat to drop in, with a gentle and soothing Acid melody that reminds me of the late-90’s overly played hit “Music Sounds Better With You” by Stardust. RHYE’s vocals fit the mid-tempo template nicely, with lines like “Sun’s coming up, I wanna play” and “See me fadin, Come on and love this false horizon, babe” carrying the message to make the most of every day and not to take the nice little moments in life for granted. It’s nothing too deep, but it resonates clearly. The chorus is a little more involved, with a beautifally mid-volume arrangement of strings incorporating some classic Disco beats into the tune as the Violin strings swell and soar over the beaming synths of the mid-tempo bassline. An understated series of Conga drum beats is the cue point for the big finale of the track, where the Funk-inspired grooves dip below the vocals of “Somebody says, come over here” to replicate the sounds of vinyl crackles as the beat gently begins to fade away. With club doors currently closed around the world, we can only hope that SG Lewis will be able to take these sounds to festival stages late in the summer to make the most of this music. However, I’d rather he release this music than keep delaying it, like the new Bond movie because it allows a feeling of normalcy to breathe through the harmonies. RHYE’s vocal performance is strong, while the production of the track feels inspired and tinkered with. This sounds a little more commercial than the type of electronic music that I would typically choose to listen to, but I still think that it would sound great on mainstream daytime radio. It’s easy to like, there’s clear inspiration in the sound and it feels well-produced overall. It was – basically put – well worth spending 4 minutes and 20 seconds of my Time with.

  • Pictured: SG Lewis backstage at Coachella Music and Arts Festival (2019) (Photo via the360mag.com)

That’s all for today! I’ll be back tomorrow, just like every day, with an in-depth review of some more brand new music – this time coming from an Israeli-born singer, songwriter and self-producer whose track was once used in an advertising campaign for Apple’s music streaming service, and in her earlier years, she used to studied composition at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. 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/