Techno

Today’s Track: Saint Etienne – “My Christmas Prayer”

December 20, 2019 — Leave a comment

As I’ve grown up, I’ve found that My Christmas Prayer is for well… nothing. It’s time for you to take a trip back down to 1994 and kick off your evening with your new post!

  • Pictured: Sarah Cracknell (Lead Vocals), Bob Stanley (Keyboard, Percussion) and Pete Wiggs (Keyboard, Percussion)

A beloved British dream-pop trio named after the AS Saint-Etienne Football Club, Saint Etienne have become a very well-established name on the international indie music scene since they released their debut LP, “Foxbase Alpha”, in 1991. The band have been described as significant in uniting 90’s club counter-culture together with early, pioneering 60’s influences. Within their discography, the band released a christmas track on their 1994 album, their third overall LP release, “Tiger Bay”. It wasn’t included on the standard listing, however, as the track was released as a b-side on the bonus disc of the UK release of the album. The track is called “My Christmas Prayer” and it acts as a breather between the techno-pop sound explored on the album released in June 1994. I recently heard the track on late-night radio and since I’ve been covering a wide range of lesser-known festive tracks on the blog leading up to Christmas and New Year’s, I thought it’d be a perfect little track to cover for you! I’m Jacob Braybrooke, wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year over the festive season, and today’s track is – “My Christmas Prayer” by Saint Etienne!

I think it’s fair to say it’s one of the least conventional Christmas songs ever written, as it has a very down-tempo and laidback style that will either come across as traditional and heartwarming for some, or bleak and melancholic for others. This will depend on who you ask! I wonder what Saint Nick would make of it! Vocally, Cracknell displays a careful prowess as she poetically recites: “Oh Lord, will you please help me//For my baby’s gone astray?/Bring him back, / ’cause I’m so lonesome, and tomorrow’s Christmas Day” over a soothing, somewhat exhausting, underlayer of 90’s electropop synthesizers and ringing bells, which culminates with a solo riff of keyboard lines that dance towards the natural conclusion of the track. It’s the festive equivalent of Marmite on toast, as I think you’re either going to love it or hate it! For me, personally, it’s bubbly and there’s a cheesiness to an extent, but I find the pacing of this cover version to be very slow and the layout to be dull compared the original classic recorded by Billy Fury. I feel there is fun to be had, however, as the vocal performance from Cracknell is angelic and the material from Stanley and Wiggs on the keyboards is decent enough. Overall, it’s a bit of a throwaway seasonal offering which sounds a bit flat in places, but I feel it ends up being a decent little tune overall!

  • Pictured: Saint Etienne performing “Nothing Can Stop Us” live at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn (2017)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be offering more great tidings on the blog tomorrow as part of my weekly Scuzz Sundays (90’s-00’s emo/punk/rock-themed) posts! However, this week, it’s a track from a modern classic UK indie-rock band with a seasonal twist! 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: Caribou – “You & I”

December 9, 2019 — 1 Comment

With deadlines coming up for me on Thursday, it’s been just another Manic Monday, but Caribou is back to enlighten our moods! It’s time for your Monday music musing!

  • Pictured: Dan Snaith in a photoshoot for a Q&A interview with Stereogum (2014)

Leaving a six-year gap between 2014’s “Our Love” and his upcoming fifth studio release under the Caribou stage alias, which has been Canadian disc jockey Dan Snaith’s main gig since 2005, has left even his most patient fans with an awfully long wait. It’s difficult to remember that Snaith hasn’t been away from pumping out new material for very long, having dropped two new releases under his Daphni side-project in 2017. However, the overdue wait is finally over because Snaith has recently announced a new LP under the Caribou name, “Suddenly”, which is slated for release on February 28th via the City Slang records label. He’s also just been confirmed as part of the Saturday headliners for the All Points East Festival in May 2020 at Victoria Park in London next year, sitting comfortably alongside Tame Impala and Glass Animals. Not a shabby lineup at all! To start building up hype for the marketing machine of the new LP record, Snaith has unveiled a new single, “You & I”, which is a follow-up to the amazing soul-inspired, funk-heavy tune “Home” released in October.

The track starts off with a relatively slow-pace as the hallowed synth beats and the controlled drumbeat flickers between light moods and soundscape emotions like a disco ball shining down on a half-empty slow dance at some kind of school prom. Yeah, that sounded better in my head. Anyways, give it a listen and you’ll be able to hear what I mean. This is quintessentially a Caribou record, which has been mixed with a soul-laden influence of ambient experimentation lifted from the likes of Bonobo or Four Tet. From the slight tinge of neo-psychedelia and old-school electronic pop. A sudden (*boom*tiss) rush of guitar lines and autotuned male vocals provide a brief respite from the layered soundscapes and precise new-wave engineering, where Snaith manages to create an ultimate feeling of distance and dream circumstances not coming to a whole fruititon. The vocals, recited under a falsetto, “You can take your place up in the sky/I will find a way to get it on down here/Just as long as you aren’t here”, evoke an instantaneous effect of dream-pop and shoegazing, with the part-decimated vocal lines, in the drop, providing an effect of distortion, as the falsetto quickly fades out and gets replaced by a melancholic, but still dance-heavy, time-signatured sequence of IDM-heavy snares. The result is an overruling selection of themes, which bounce off each other and connect with each other to create an intelligent EDM sound which creates a wide contrast of themes and tones, all existing within an 80’s-drenched electro-funk soundscape, which creates an emotion of vulnerability and give-and-take nostalgia. Festival crowds, here he comes!

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Suddenly” (February 28th, 2020)

You can also read my thoughts on “Home”, a previously released track from the forthcoming new record, here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/10/28/todays-track-caribou-home/

  • Pictured: Dan Snaith hard at work producing music in his office studio!

Thank you for reading this post! Make sure you read the blog tomorrow, as I’ll be looking at a recent track from an American contemporary Christian singer who has performed across India, Uzbekistan, Israel, Guatemala and toured with Aaron Boyd. 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: Mark Arber – “Rasta Lion”

December 5, 2019 — Leave a comment

Rounding off your Thursday with a heavy techno track as underground as they come!

  • Pictured: Promotional Logo for the “Vegas Dirt Recordings” indie dance record label (2019)

Mark Arber is a heavy techno/IDM disc jockey who is currently signed to the Vegas Dirt Recordings label, a small underground electronic imprint dance label, which is currently based in London. Arber is a techno producer who is one of the original class of 88′ ravers. Arber has a very distinctive acid-house style to his techno beats. “Rasta Lion” is his second release and it will be available in February 2020! A massive shout-out goes to my friend and Vegan Voodoo, Eddie Bammeke, who provided me a copy of the track in early access! Make sure you stay tuned to Vegas Dirt Recordings on Facebook to find out more heavy-techno artists to appease your earbuds and for the latest information on live DJ sets and their latest music releases from the local scene.

“Rasta Lion” is a relentless assault on the earbuds on it’s first listen. This is a track which seems to have developed it’s roots in the influences of 90’s acid techno pioneers like The Future Sound Of London and Board Of Canada, as well as the modern electro scene. With very little background information on Arber and the label up on the internet, this is music that has to speak for itself and it does so fully, taking all of the stride in the world as it does so. It has several different break-beat sections, such as a distorted female vocal, which has a slight-pop vibe to it as it echoes under a fading synthesizer. It also has several bassline breaks, which creates the effect of a spotlight being rotated on a stage with several performers. Almost a strobe lighting effect, it propels the club-anthem feel of the rave-heavy bassline forward. The track also has a psychedelic, stoner-like male vocal, which implores the raver to “let the music carry you to infinity and space” under a heavy bed of ambient Jungle-based production and freakish electronic snares which distance themselves from the listener with fading techniques, transporting the listener to an African club aesthetic. Overall, it’s a shame the track’s not officially out yet, but I hope you’re looking forward to the release of the new track. It has a very exciting and club-like aesthetic which is primed to get you up and raving on a night-out with minimal work required!

  • Pictured: Alternate Promotional Logo for “Vegas Dirt Recordings” (March 2018)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with a look at the new track from La Roux, which is getting released, with the premiere of a new music video, today! It’s called “Gullible Fool” and it’s taken from her upcoming third LP record, “Supervision”, which drops on February 7, 2020 via her own new label, Supercolour Records! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Confidence Man – “Santa’s Comin’ Down The Chimney”

December 4, 2019 — 1 Comment

It’s nearly time for another bloomin’ christmas! For now, it’s time for your new post!

We’ve finally crossed the December mark of the year, which also means it’s nearly time for another festive season where we scoff our faces with mince pies and sit there watching the TV box like a lemon slice sits in your glass of cola at the local Wetherspoons! You’re going to start seeing christmas songs sprinkled throughout the month on the blog, however, rather than revisit the festive tunes we all know and hear every year, imagine the royalties Wizzard and Bob Geldoff get off those each year, I’m going to introduce you to some lesser-known seasonal treats that you can add to your playlist, like you add spice to mulled wine, instead. Today’s musing comes from an indie dance outfit called Confidence Man, who hailed from Brisbane in Australia. The group are a 4-piece known for their quirky and playful style of clubbing anthems, whose sound has a vibe similar to the geeky nerds and the dorks in high school. The band are best known for their 2018 debut LP, “Confident Music For Confident People”, which was released on the Heavenly Recordings label. The album earned them an award for “Best Independent Dance/Electronica Album” at the AIR Independent Music Awards in 2018, leading up to them embarking on a headline tour.

“Santa’s Comin’ Down The Chimney” was released in November 2018. It’s not a far-cry from the very 80’s and tongue-in-cheek of the group’s regular output. It’s a little bit safe, in fact, but it’s a formula that largely works and it’s not worth trying to fix it for a one-off single, in the context of the band’s fanbase and prior work. Janet sings, in a down-tempo vocal, “Santa’s comin’ down the chimney/Santa’s got a present for fe/Santa asked me what I want/I said I want a beat”, before a hectic line of snares and idiosyncratic electro- percussion breaks down. She later recites lines such as: “I’ve been nice and I’ve been naughty/All the things that Santa taught me/Mom and daddy never caught me/P O L I C E report me” and “All this work has got me beat/Hope you left me/Something tasty, something sweet/Something special, just for me” in a monotone and down-to-earth tempo, with a hip-hop fusion twang to it. The alternative pop style is colourful and energetic, blending in with the heavy drum machine beats, to create a youthful rave tune for the adolescent party lovers, as the overall sound of the track has a very surreal humor and mood. It’s not quite a perfect track by any means, as I feel the novelty starts to wear a bit thin by the end of the 3-minute duration and the stylistic conventions of the band are fully played out, which may seem a bit over-indulgent for some listeners. However, as far as b-sides from a dance band’s discography goes, it really is a christmas miracle for the built-in fanbase.

  • Pictured: Janet Planet (Vocals), Sugar Bones (Vocals), Reggie Goodchild (Synths) and Clarence McGuffie (Drums)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at a track from an Underground heavy techno artist from Essex – who shares his name with a footballer who used to play for Tottenham Hotspur before serving as an Academy Coach for Arsenal! 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: Massive Attack (feat. Shara Nelson) – “Unfinished Sympathy”

December 2, 2019 — Leave a comment

Robert “3D” Del Naja, Grant “Daddy D” Marshall and formerly “Mush” (Andy Vowles) comprised the original lineup of Massive, a Trip Hop group from Bristol. Later renamed as Massive Attack, the name which stuck, the band have become Massive-ly (sorry!) influential force in the history of British dance and alternative music. “Unfinished Sympathy”, one of the lead singles from their 1991 debut LP, “Blue Lines” was later voted on many end-of-year and best-of-all-time lists, particularly since the track was named as the 63rd best song of all-time by NME in 2014. The single also reached #13 in the UK Singles Chart upon it’s original release. It came accompanied with a music video directed by Baillie Walsh, , which saw Shara Nelson, the guest vocalist, walking through a grimy street in a neighbourhood in Los Angeles, California – oblivious to the events going on around her in the surrounding area. Recently, Massive Attack have been featured in the news, as they have announced a study into the effects of climate change on live tours. As a result, the band, in their press release, have commented on making a pledge to: “map thoroughly the carbon footprint of band tour cycles, and to present options that can be implemented quickly”. In respect of this brave move, I’ve decided to take a look back at “Unfinished Sympathy” and discuss why the track, nearly 30 years on, still manages to hold up in this day and age!

“Unfinished Sympathy” was one of the group’s earliest recordings and it has become a huge cornerstone in the career of an, arguably, underrated group who have gone on to sell over 13 million copies worldwide in their career. Even now, when you revisit the sound of the track, there’s actually a grand variation of different styles here. There are plenty of vocal and percussion samples, there is an acid house influence created by the drum machine programming and even an orchestral influence being created by the string-based arrangement, which was an effort composed by Will Malone. Some of these elements were created digitally, while other elements were composed by natural instruments. The orchestral composition was later sampled for The Verve’s later hit, “Bitter Sweet Symphony”. A fun fact! Back to the task at hand, it also has a soul-ska vibe created by the tribal backing vocals and the bleakness of the tone. Nelson lyricises about the ubiquity of unrequited love, over a slow-paced bassline and a sumptous melody created by the light elements of House and Techno. It’s not really a song that you would get up and dance to, but it was one of the first electronic tracks written with the people who prefer to sit down in mind, as one of the first examples of Deep Listening subgenres. Towards the end of the track, hip-hop disc scratches are present, which leads to the Violin and Cello becoming the main melody of the track, in a direction that is fearless and smart. It allows the impact of the ambient textures to shine through and for the cerebral bass melody to sink into the psyche of the listener. Overall, this is a track which deserves the universal acclaim it received at the time of release. When looking back at the reflection of the track through an audible mirror, it’s a track that will always have an audience and it should be recognised by a generation who are only given the sexually immature dance records being churned out by the system. This is coming from a 21-year-old student…

  • Pictured (original lineup): Robert “3D” Del Naja, Grant “Daddy D” Marshall and Andrew “Mushroom” Vowles

You can read up on more info about Massive Attack’s music study into the environmental impacts of touring here: https://pitchfork.com/news/massive-attack-launch-major-study-of-music-industry-carbon-emissions/

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Blue Lines” (1991) (Physical CD Format)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at a recent track from a lesser-known British punk band formed in 2010 in Exeter, who have previously been featured twice on KEXP’s Song of The Day podcast! 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: Jon Hopkins – “Open Eye Signal”

October 23, 2019 — Leave a comment

If you’re looking for a signal towards great music, you’ve hopefully come to the right place for a daily musing! It’s time for your Wednesday post!

I remember flicking through the highlights of Glatonbury Festival 2019 on BBC iPlayer and catching a few tracks from an enchanting live set from Jon Hopkins, a UK electronic dance artist with a background in producing scores for film soundtracks, most notably for Gareth Edwards’ 2010 breakout hit sci-fi smash “Monsters”. He’s a very talented individual who used to work closely with renowned singer-actress Imogen Heap, as he first gained notoriety from playing the keyboard alongside her, before moving on to a production role for albums from the likes of Brian Eno, David Holmes and, weirdly enough, Coldplay, of all bands. His biggest hit is “Singularity”, an album which gained lots of critical acclaim and charted within the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart when it was first released in 2015. “Open Eye Signal” is a single from his fourth LP record, “Immunity”, which was released in June 2013 by Domino Records and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize Award of the next year.

“Open Eye Signal” is a track from Hopkins which really makes a great deal of sense when you consider that Hopkins has a vital background in performing for soundtracks on films and television. This is an ambient electronic dance track that has a cinematic quality to it, created by the mixing of the heavy bass colliding with the percussion which feels industrial in texture, smashing into the techno-infouenced rhythm and the consistently fast pacing, although the beats feel very merticulously layered as the track builds upon it’s layout in a gradual manner. The result is an 8-minute delight which never lets up, a track which is very cerebral in it’s delivery, leading to a close which feels organic in a rather subtle way. Overall, it’s very methodical in nature and it’a harkening back to the intelligent dance craze of the late 90’s, while conveying new tones of human evolution and drawing on the themes of science and the environment in a way which feels, in the ending, successful in it’s delivery.

Thank you very much for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with a signature track from an alternative rock group who have famously produced a metal/punk cover version of Simon & Garfunkel’s 1964 classic “The Sound Of Silence”! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: The Future Sound Of London – “We Have Explosive”

October 19, 2019 — Leave a comment

Here’s a crazy and influential drill and bass track from 1996 to get you in the mood for an old-school rave on a Saturday night!

The Future Sound Of London are an arcane IDM group who are well-respected in the online music community for those who know them. A very if you know, you know, kind of artist who are mainly known for a few successful albums in the mid-1990’s. In their career, the duo have been credited for pushing the boundaries of electronic instrumentation, with their electronic experimentation covering the likes of acid techno, trip hop, house, jungle, drill & bass and breakbeat, pioneering a new wave of ambient dance music. One of their records, “Dead Cities”, was released in October 1996 to huge critical acclaim and a lot of praise from both fans and music publications, as the industrial sound and the drill-and-bass experimentation created an album that is very dystopian and futuristic in style. “We Have Explosive” was released as a single in March 1997, with the track becoming a commercial hit, somehow eventually reaching the position of #17 in the UK Singles Chart in 1997.

  • Pictured: Cover Artwork For “Dead Cities” (1996)

This track features loads of samples, mostly taken from Run DMC’s 1988 LP “Tougher Than Leather”, with the “Part 3” track of the physical single record being a working of “Rockchester”, a 1987 track by Fats Comet. The track has a heavy drill and bass hook, which is different to the light techno sound of the other tracks on “Dead Cities”. It has a pulsating bassline and a menacing atmosphere, which feels very industrial in nature and manages to keep your interest with it’s energy and political themes, with several of it’s contextual elements working in tandem to create a track that feels urban and grounded, yet infectious and futuristic. There are a lot of layers that intertwine and unfold as the track goes along it’s 3-minute duration (for the single version, 6 for the album recording) and it may feel a bit too nauseous for some on a first listen, but there is definitely something intelligent about the rhythm, with the track setting the duo apart from the likes of DJ Shadow or Aphex Twin, but while evoking a sound that is as immediate as the duo’s peers, as it blends the influences of big beat and trip hop to a unanimously solid level of success. Overall, it’s a very fun track to listen to and it successfully captures the feeling of a cold aftermath from a state of urban decay. It’s loud, obnoxious and bombacious in style, but wildly evocative and electrifying!

  • Pictured: Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with the post that you’ve been waiting all week to read, as it’s almost time for the next weekly edition of my punk-rock themed “Scuzz Sundays” blog posts and this week, I’ve got a right throwback up my sleeves! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Butch & C.Vogt – “Desire”

October 17, 2019 — Leave a comment

If the spontaneous discovery of music, old or new, is one of your greatest desires, then you know what to do: like the Facebook page for One Track At A Time and give the blog a follow! It’s time for your daily post!

“Desire” is the new single by Butch & C. Vogt, two Latino electronic dance artists who are really blowing up, with this song in particular, on the international club scene. There’s not much information about the two EDM masters readily available on the internet, but they are currently signed to the Running Back indie record label. The track is a reworked rendition of a track by Andy Gibb, “Desire”, which was released in 1980.

“Desire” is a track that unifies several vibes and combines different flip sides of the EDM and IDM genres, as well as disco and synthpop-based influences, to a near-faultless degree of immediate sequencing and solid execution. The track evokes R&B, deep house, acid house, techno and world, all in one place by an effective clean sweep, created by the breakbeat-style engineering of the distorted vocal sections and the funk sensibilities created by the arrangement of the drum, dub and vocal melodies. It’s easy to see why the track has become so popular with a cult following in such a short span of time, as the track oozes charisma in it’s teases of bassline drops and the switch-up’s in the pacing and layout, as Butch & C. Vogt cleverly tease and trick you into expecting the ambient melody to reach a more heavy texture, but the melodies are pulled quickly enough to return you back to the infectiously groovy melodies of the record. The full version of the track comes in at a staggering length of 8 minutes, but if it puts you off a little bit, make sure you check out the radio edit so that you can still get an experience from this mega hit of a record! Overall, it’s a fantastic track that feels new within it’s genre and seems likely to become very influential in the next few years.

  • Pictured: Butch (left) and C. Vogt (right)
  • Pictured: Cover Art For “Desire” (2019)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with an in-depth look at a track from an English indie rock/new wave/electro-pop group who, forgettably, won the Mercury Prize in 2007 for their debut LP record! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Metronomy – “Miracle Rooftop”

October 11, 2019 — Leave a comment

To be quite frank, it’s a miracle how I’ve managed to keep up with the blog each day for nearly two months! It’s time for a quick Friday post!

  • Pictured: Cover Art for “Metronomy Forever” (2019)

I’ve been very impressed with the brand new LP record from Metronomy, which is called “Metronomy Forever” and it was released on September 13th via the Because Music independent record label. It’s a record that shows a sublime diversity of electronic styles, the most stark of which, for me, is the electro-funk interlude “Miracle Rooftop”, an ambient delight that is sandwiched between two of the record’s more zany tracks, “Insecure” and “Upset My Girlfriend”. I have also covered “Salted Caramel Ice Cream” on the blog, which is the lead single, and possibly the least risky choice for one, on the record! You can still read my glowing report for it here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2019/08/26/todays-track-metronomy-salted-caramel-ice-cream/

“Miracle Rooftop” is a very calm, collected dancefloor anthem which feels like the perfect wind-down for a long night-out in the wider context of the record. This track has a more slow-paced and downtempo feel, in comparison to other tracks on the record. It breaks up the pop-heavy focus on the album for a brief, if sustained, moment as it dabbles in Acid House melodies and it also experiments with a variety of different styles, such as a line of synths that can only be described as “spinning”, as they playfully vibrate in your ear-drums. It is an abstract track that has the ability to evoke tones of nostalgia and reassurance, but it may feel slightly different to every listener, although a universal “Mad Hatter”‘s box of party tricks vibe is present. I also live the childish notes created by the keyboard. Overall, It’s a low-key highlight of the new record for me as it’s not the flashiest track on the album, but it’s the purest and the simplicity is the element that creates the poignancy!

  • Pictured: Joseph Mount (Vocals, Guitar), Oscar Cash (Saxophone, Keyboard), Anna Prior (Drums, Vocals), Olugbenga Adelekan (Bass Guitar, Vocals) and Michael Lovett (Keyboard, Guitar, Synths)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as usual, with a 1971 alternative hit from an old psychedelic funk/soul band who were the first US band in history to feature a racially integrated line-up of both male and female band members! If you liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every daily new post is up and like the Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/

Today’s Track: Battles (feat. Sal Principato) – “Titanium 2 Step”

October 4, 2019 — Leave a comment

Here are 2 steps for you: Like the blog and follow the blog! Happy Friday!

  • Pictured: Cover Art For “Titanium 2 Step” (2019)

Battles, an electronic experimental art rock 2-piece band from New York City, have just announced the release date of October 18, 2019 for “Juice B Crypts”, their fourth LP on Warp Records. As soon as they dropped the new single from the LP, “Titanium 2 Step”, the LP has become very highly anticipated and the single has quickly become one of the hottest tracks on the BBC Radio 6Music playlist of the year. The track features Sal Principato, of post-punk rock legends Liquid Liquid fame, on vocals. It’s also been accompanied with a vivid and frentic music video, with colours that look like a substance reminiscent of an old-fashioned Rubik’s cube of the 1980’s.

It’s very difficult to describe the overall sound of the record, but it’s one that’s more than good enough to stimulate my listening habits. As with the waves and lines in the music video, the track is wild and chaotic, with a vocal style from Principato that can only be described as glaring and shrieking. However, the track manages to excel as it delivers consistently unexpected melodies and funky synthesized lines which contort with a real sense of urgency at a tidy pace. It feels meticulously engineered to no fault and it sounds well-realized in the concept department, as the track adds a lot of layers in it’s breakbeat sections and the traditional drumming harmonies. It might be a little bit abrasive for the masses and it’s a bit nauseous in it’s first listen, but the single never feels as though it lacks focus, calling back to the “Drill n’ Bass” tones of AFX’s 1995 “Hangable Auto Bulb” record, but it’s not heavy-handed in it’s acid house tempo. The quality of the record is pretty admirable considering the strobe-flickering 3D-like composition of the record, which is evoked by the glitched-out guitar riffs and the melodic breakdowns which dip in and out of niche genres such as Afrobeat and Shoegaze. It’s a massive re-invention for the band as the follow-up to 2015’s “La Di Di” LP, but it retains the fundamental elements and the wacky ambient textures which help the track to execute it’s dynamically shifting harmonies, without losing cohesion.

  • Pictured: Ian Williams (Keyboard, Guitar, Synths) and John Stanier (Drummer, Producer)

Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with an in-depth look at a track from 2001 from a French electronic DJ and composer who has released material under several different monikers in the past, such as Superdiscount, EDC and Main Basse! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/