Today’s Track: EARTHGANG – ‘All Eyes On Me’

April 18, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Olu (aka Johnny Venus) & WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dut) (2022) (Photo by Jordan Payne/Rolling Stone)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time to wipe the chocolate from those Eggs off of your face for a few moments as we listen to 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! The music video for ‘All Eyes On Me’ has recently surpassed over one billion views on YouTube, a great result for the Atlanta-based Hip Hop duo of Earthgang, which is comprised of southern rappers Olu (aka Johhny Venus) and WowGr8 (aka Doctur Dut – who was born as Eian Parker) who were co-founders of the Spillage Village collective which also includes JID, Hollywood JB, JordxnBryant, 6LACK, Mebera and Benji. Earthgang mostly feels like a side project for the two creatives, who have released a trilogy of EP’s and one major album on the Dreamville Records label that fellow rapper J. Cole heads. The duo released a few singles like ‘American Horror Story’, ‘Aretha’ and ‘Erykah’ to showcase the diversity of subjects being disected throughout the record, but ‘All Eyes On Me’ seems to be one of the most symbolic examples of their new album’s sound and core values. ‘Ghetto Gods’ – their second studio album – has received positive acclaim from publications like AllMusic, Exclaim, NME and Rolling Stone, along with consistent radio airplay from KEXP, making their top ten list of albums being featured regularly on their DJ’s shows. It was produced by Kawan “KP” Prather and SinceThe80’s, and it features a varied range of guest collaborators too. Among these names are people like CeeLo Green, Baby Tate, Future, JID, Ari Lennox, and more. Check out ‘All Eyes On Me’ below.

Referencing the hardships that everyone has been dealing with throughout the pandemic, such as the loss of jobs and the missed opportunities in our lives due to the long-term effects of recent years for their music video, Olu and WowGr8 encourage us to enjoy the most profound things in life while celebrating their survival as black people in America. An effective opening sets the scene with lyrics like “Warriors die, but they live in the sky/I’ve never seen a Gucci watch in my future, sign of the times” that Olu spits out to reference the financial difficulties that many have been struggling through. WowGr8 tells his side of the coin in the next verse, as he raps about taking care of his family despite personal issues in order to tell a larger narrative of the ‘target’ that is placed on the back of his community and the judgment that black people are still constantly subjected to within the environment. The chorus brings together the themes of poverty, addiction, police brutality and prejudice in the legal system with an upbeat spin anyways, as the pair shout us out with sequences like “You survived last year/Get your hands up” and “I know that money tight, that slimmy check light/I should stash some, but we gon’ ball for the night” that illustrates the point of living for today and not showing an overload of concern for tomorrow. The rougher topics of racism, tragedy and horror stories from the hood are still gently crammed into it, but the general vibe is a more relatable and uplifting one overall. These lyrical musings play out to the calming tune of hi-hat’s, chirping backing vocals and an 808 knock that creates a mellow groove throughout, and the duo’s production has a similar energy that drives the emotional, booming Bass beats forwards as the two celebrate their simple achievements of chasing your dreams in a world full of creatives that is plagued by external struggles, and I can see why the track has found so much popularity recently because the points being made are rather universal, but they still feel deep enough to stand out a little bit. I’m not sure that I would revisit it hugely often because it is straightforward, but the verses feel very conscious and the chorus has a catchy energy to it, which makes it feel engaging despite clearly being influenced by mainstream trap. An important act of just patting yourself on the back.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘GHETTO GODS’ (LP/Album) (Released on Febraury 25th, 2022) (via Dreamville Records)

That brings us to the end of another roughly 24 hour period, and the end of another daily post on the blog. Thank you for showing me your support as always, and I’ll be back tomorrow to review a single from an upcoming new album being released by a Canadian singer-songwriter, of Serbian heritage, who is based in London. She has recorded two sessions for Marc Riley’s show on BBC Radio 6 Music, and she recorded a cover version of King Crimson’s ‘I Talk To The Wind’ as a charity single in 2020. Monkeybiz, a website, have described her previous album as “a beautiful work of art”.

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Today’s Track: Kojey Radical (feat. Knucks) – ‘Payback’

March 12, 2022 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Kojey Radical in a glamorous photoshoot for a Q&A feature with The Badger Online (2022) (Photo via PR)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it is time for us to take a quick look at one of the UK’s most well-received Grime upstarts for yet another track on the blog, because it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Rapper, creative director, mixed media visual director and a first class degree graduate in Fashion Illustration from the London College Of Fashion – is there anything that Hoxton-based musician Kojey Radical can’t do? His debut mixtape, 2016’s ’23 Winters’, debuted at #3 on the UK’s Rap & Hip Hop Albums Charts and reached the top 40 of the UK Singles Charts and, since that point, he has received three MOBO music awards nominations. He has also collaborated with a wide variety of artists such as Mahalia, Lex Amor, Ray BLK, Tom Grennan and MJ Cole. He has recently given us another ‘Reason To Smile’ with his titular first full-length studio album that was released last Friday – on March 4th – via the major label Atlantic Records. The new record is about giving people greatness and striving for self-perfection, and it features a guest appearance from his own mother alongside a plethora of other featured credits, which he explores through a progressive range of Grime, Spoken Word, Alternative Hip-Hop and Psychedelic Funk backdrops. The latter is the most prominent option on ‘Payback’, the lead single, which finds Kojey enlisting the aid of Knucks. The Jazz/Soul-oriented production was also handled by frequent collaborator Swindle. Let’s give ‘Payback’ a listen with the opulent music video below.

“When you’ve been taught to be the victim for so long, it feels great to stand up and say, no one can bully me”, Kojey says in a simple statement about ‘Payback’ as a single. Talking about the ambitions of his new album, he says, “This is the first time I’ve done it to the scale and ambition of what I speak. Previously it’s been ‘I’m warming, I’m warming, I’m warming up’ – but I’m warm now, put me in the game”, in a press release. ‘Payback’ gets off to a heated start with the brassy refrains of “Dark and bullseyes/the dress code black/Count my money up, I need my racks” in the opening chorus, before Knucks takes the lead for an equally strident verse where he raps about the different qualities that are perceived to represent black success, all of the while that a Saxophone-enhanced bassline and a taut sample-based backdrop helps to glide his vocals above the melodies with a floating flow. There’s references to popular culture, such as the Netflix series ‘Top Boy’, while there’s nods to the sample-based production of Madlib and J Dilla in the richly Funk-influenced backing beats. Some of the strongest lyrics, like “Rap my freedom like a gift/and I ain’t seen the trap since” and “From 1993, I’ve been f***ing up the narrative”, are also the most bold ones, as they speak candidly of finding wealth and measuring power with a nonchalantly poetic flair. There are subtle themes about flexing over your enemies and justice being made, where hooks like “Until we multiply black wealth/**** a statue” and “Don’t let the ivory towers come distract you” make reference to recent cultural events, but it never feels too pretentious or as if Kojey or Knucks are flaunting too much, as black financial generational wealth is the goal instead of personal ambitions within the songwriting. A very fast and furious Hip-Hop anthem with a light touch of Kojey’s undeniably Jazz-oriented and soulful Funk influences, ‘Payback’ comes at you with a hard and honest personality that makes it feel like a cut above the rest. I would have liked to hear a tad more expression from Kojey on his own, as ‘Payback’ shows that a host of collaborators have been behind the steering wheel of it, but this is a strong effort from all involved that gets a lot of the fundamentals right.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Reason To Smile’ (LP/Album) (Released on March 4th, 2022) (via Atlantic Records)

That’s all for now! Thank you very much for taking a moment out of your day to check out what I had to say, and I’ll be back tomorrow to review some more rhythms as we head back to our teenage years for a new entry of my weekly ‘Scuzz Sundays’ feature. We’ll be listening to a modern classic from one of the few female-led bands of the era who have collaborated with Tom Morello and last released an album in 2021. The single in question was memorably used in the edgy comic book movie ‘Kick-Ass’ that bought Hollywood actors like Chloe Grace Moretz and Aaron Taylor-Johnston to fame.

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New Album Release Fridays: Arca (feat. Planningtorock) – ‘Queer’

December 3, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Kick iiii’ (LP) (Released on 3rd December, 2021) (via XL Recordings)

Good Morning to you! You are reading the words of Jacob Braybrooke and, for the final time until 2022 rolls around, it is time for us to take a deep dive into one of this weekend’s biggest new album releases, since it’s always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! It all comes down to this. As the curtain draws the year of exceptional new music to a close, we are left with a final notable release. Or two. Or three. Or – in the case of Venezeulan experimental pop producer Arca – four. Last summer, she released ‘Kick i’ to an interesting reception and this week, she has completed the ‘Kick’ quintet with the release of ‘Kick ii’, ‘Kick iii’, ‘Kick iiii’ and ‘Kick iiiii’ all on the same day via XL Recordings, boasting a total of 43 tracks of wild Glitch Pop experimentation. I loved her track ‘Time’ on the blog last year, but a follow-up single – ‘Mequetrefe’ – received a more negative reception from me, so it will be interesting to see where ‘Queer’ from ‘Kick iiii’ (featuring the Estonia-based English DJ Planningtorock) lands with me. The critics seem to be liking the ambitious bible of projects, however, with The Guardian writing, “A wild ride to the dark, daring side of Pop” in their four-star write up. The Times added, “Pop that’s a pleasure to be confused by” in their appraisal. I mostly know Arca, also a transgender icon, for her friendship and a few collaborations with the Icelandic role model Bjork. However, Arca has also produced work for Kanye West, Rosalia and FKA Twigs (Who famously used to date Robert Pattinson for quite a while, I believe). ‘Kick iiii’ also features Garbage’s Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates & No Bra. Give ‘Queer’ a whirl below.

Pitching the fourth part of her ‘Kick’ series of augmented records as “an entry in the sensual charge in the cycle; my own faith made into song, a posthuman celestial sparkle, psychosexual pulsewidth modulation, queering the void, abyss alchemically transmuted into a deconstruction of what is beautiful” in her partial LP’s product description, Arca continues to explore the themes of alienation from the inside and a bursting apart of old skin with the glitch-driven lead single from her ‘Kick iiii’ album – ‘Queer’. Built up to be an anthem that is celebrating courage in the face of prejudice and encouraging queer romance in all of its forms, this is a dramatically exploratory single that establishes Arca in the ilk of a ‘true artist’ like Kate Bush or David Bowie where commercial accessibility is primarily not a target and expression with an almost ‘alien’ quality, where traditionally catchy genre traits are simply disregarded in favour of a creative approach. Therefore, I can definitely see why this track may not play ever so well to casual listeners and it, even for me, was a little bit overwhelming to fully grasp on a first listen. It has a vague resemblance to the Eurovision flavour of Pop, however, that gives us somewhere to start with her. Set against the backdrop of a Witch House trap beat that has an air of Latin Hip-Hop about it, calling to my mind names like 100 Gecs and Bad Bunny anyways, Arca and Planningtorock (her actual name is Jam Rostram) exchange a series of Spanish and English lyrics between each other in a trade, with anthemic lyrics like “Tears will shower in my time/Like a queer life/Queer fire” as the Synthpop textures and the science fiction soundtrack feel of the music dives along at a brisk pace that doesn’t ever quite let up entirely. Full of processed vocals and some more interchangeable genre influences that are buried underneath the broad instrumentals, ‘Queer’ finds itself preoccupied with swelling Synth arrangements and rattling percussive arrangements that each function as a mimicry of non-heterosexual forms of love in their diverse nature. The opening of the track is a highlight for me, where a screeching sequence of samples almost act as haunting strings that get the beats off to an unrelented start. Overall, while I can certainly agree that ‘Queer’ is a lot to take in at once and it takes some hard work to get the most out of, I felt rewarded by the emotive soundscape that becomes more vibrant and expansive in scope with my repeated listening. I can also appreciate the thought that goes into the visual aspects of her art too. A tsunami of seismic material.

Pictured: Arca in an official photoshoot to promote the release of “Kick i” (2020) (Photo Credit: Hart Leshkina)

As aforementioned, Arca has gained a little bit of attention from my blog before. If you found ‘Queer’ to be interesting, you can see what I made of ‘Time’ here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/05/28/todays-track-arca-time/. You can also gain your own opinion of ‘Mequetrefe’ by visiting my take on it here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/06/30/todays-track-arca-mequetrefe/

Pictured: Arca (Alejandra Ghersi) in a shot from the ‘Time’ music video (2020) (Photo Credit: Rolling Stone)

That’s all for now! Thank you for finding out what music that I had to share with you today, and we will be going back to our ‘Countdown To Christmas’ in glorious style tomorrow. Join me then for an in-depth look at a new holiday-themed album release by an American Acapella group from Arlington, Texas who won the third season of NBC’s ‘The Sing-Off’ in 2011 and they have won three Grammy awards following that time. If you are a fan of the three ‘Pitch Perfect’ movies, you may find it Aca-awesome.

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Today’s Track: Solemn Brigham – “Dirty Whip”

September 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘South Sinner Street’ (Released on September 24, 2021) (via Mello Music Group)

Good Morning to you! This is Jacob Braybrooke – showered and shattered after my first Cambridge gig (Which you’ll be hearing more about at some point during the week) – and the time has come for me to get typing up for yet another daily track on the blog, because it has always been my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! If the face of North Carolina-based lyricist/rapper Solemn Brigham appears to be strikingly familiar to you, then you may already know the chap as one half of the underground rap duo Marlowe, a project that he leads with the producer L’Orange, which, for my money, is one of the most exciting new hip-hop double acts in years. Last year, they released ‘Marlowe 2’ through Mello Music Group, and, this weekend, they will be playing at the Sound City festival in Ipswich. It has also been a restless weekend for Brigham himself, who has just released the new solo album ‘South Sinner Street’. Brigham’s music, as a solo artist, can be heard on Gatorade’s ‘G For Greatness’ campaign, 7 Eleven’s ‘Harmony Korine’ campaign and the soundtrack of NBA 2K22. For Brigham, the new album is an ode to those who carried him to greatness and an exploration of the theme of decay – economically and medically – through the lens of his hometown in Albemarle. He says, “What was once a vibrant area now survives as a reminder that the only thing eternal is change. Trash and debris flood the streets, relics of the many lives lived – each piece with a story to tell” for the album’s description. Take his latest single – ‘Dirty Whip’ – for a ride below.

‘South Sinner Street’ features production work from Marlowe compadre L’Orange, Kuartz (Also known as Katalyst from The Quakers), Frank Drake, The Lasso, Scud One and Krum, who all create some fluid instrumentals for Brigham to bounce off. On ‘Dirty Whip’, Brigham reflects on the illusion of wealth and the power of your roots through the lens of rapping about his Porsche. He says, in a press release, “This song is an ode to someone who carried me and provided for me during tough times”, elaborating, “When I was broke, you helped me find a way, and when I was reckless, you helped to keep me safe. To my Dirty Whip and all dirty whips alike, I’ll always ride for you” in his press notes. Brigham has always struck me as a virtuoso of tone, flipping between playfulness and severity at a skittering ease, and he confides in these strengths once again on ‘Dirty Whip’, delivering a genuinely witty moment when he raps that he didn’t make the basketball team “Cause I’m me first” in the verses. This light sense of humor is counteracted by the dramatic strings of the single’s opening and the Blues-leaning scatterings of Piano arrangements that make up the instrumental bed for the track, a softly cinematic backbeat that gives Brigham plenty of fresh energy to launch his own lyrics, at a frenetic pace, from. On the other hand, Brigham’s vocals feel raw and not very polished, which is different to the more sample-based style of his work as one half of Marlowe. I have also noticed how Brigham spits his bars on top with an equal mix of intimacy and observation in the sense that he raps about how riding in this car brought him joy, but the streets that he rode down had a share of corruption to them, later extending to the themes of poverty and security. Overall, ‘Dirty Whip’ is a nice rap tune that perhaps could have done with a little bit of neatening up when it comes to the lead vocals, but the ideas that he explores lyrically are very intriguing when you read between the lines, and he is very good at manipulating the tone of his words to suit his demands, an aspect of what makes his work as part of Marlowe really entertaining. I would ride down to this.

Pictured: Solemn Brigham (right) with L’Orange (Marlowe) in a ‘Marlowe 2’ PR shoot (2020) (via PR)

As mentioned, I’m a big fan of Marlowe and I would recommend checking them out very much. Why not start with a blog post that I did previously on ‘Future Power Sources’?: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/09/09/todays-track-marlowe-future-power-sources/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for ‘Marlowe 2’ (LP) (Released on August 7th, 2020) (via Mello Music Group)

That’s all for now! Thank you for your continued support for the blog, and I’ll be back for more of the same with ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ tomorrow. We’ll be doing something a little different tomorrow, as we take an in-depth look at a lesser remembered album from an 80’s female pop star who recently got a laugh out loud mention on BBC One’s ‘Ghosts’ and popped up in a Cadbury’s Darkmilk commercial.

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Today’s Track: B-Wey – “Psych Police”

August 24, 2021 — Leave a comment

Pictured: Cover Art for ‘Section 1’ (LP) (Released on July 16th, 2021) (via Self-Released/Bandcamp.com)

Good Morning to you! You are here with Jacob Braybrooke, as always, in time 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! Approaching the cusp of 30 years of age, South East London-based independent rapper Ben Weyman has been reflecting on his twenties in his tell-all debut album, ‘Section 1’, which he self-released last month. The new record examines tragedy – familial grief, mental health struggles and his run-ins with the law. This is a very hard-hitting and stripped-back listen that was partly inspired by the tragic loss of his parents, which occurred due to battles with cancer and within only four months of one another. The record was also named after his development of Bipolar Disorder which has led to an arrest pertaining to his share of psychotic, manic episodes. Brutally honest, B-Wey has laid bare on the taster track, ‘Psych Police’, which specifically refers to the heavy-handed treatment of those who need support. The new LP was mixed and mastered by Ryan Sullivan, the former head engineer of Red Bull Studios, and Weyman wants you to know that he has been stable for 3 years – and hopes his work can guide others to peace. Spin ‘Psych Police’ below.

Following a tumultuous period, Ben Weyman has turned to music as a way to express himself like never before, writing, “My musical journey and influences give way to a unique production style while my life experiences give me something tangible to write about and gives my music a real direction. I hope to raise awareness and influence change in his neat address to the music press. A deeply personal call to others going through serious pains, B-Wey delivers some candid, and catchy, lyrics that cut like a knife sunk in deep to your heart. The repeating hooks of “What they want from me, I’m not sure/Now they’ve got me pinned to the concrete floor” and names the likes of corporate greed and the vanity of 20’s youth as the stigmas surrounding his times of downfall. The refrain of “1 to the 2 to the 3 to the 4/Psych police are knocking at my door” is a memorable and wickedly melodic one, while he spits the rest of his bars with a rough-edged first person perspective. His beats harken back to J Dilla and Madlib, where his sampling goes for a more playful brand of style collage, and his turntable scratches equally evoke the old-school Hip-Hop production of Boom Bap. He peppers this material with some sombre Piano notes and a gently ethereal female backing vocal that get the dramatic subject matter across to the listener in a way that continues to ditch flashy Synth schemes or the mincing of his words. I like how the overall track feels rather unpolished to an extent, as this really allows for Weyman’s personality and his expression to come across naturally and without any hesitation of mentioning the more hardcore scenarios of his narrative, as he continues to seek introspection through his lowest of moods. Overall, this is an effective example of DIY UK Hip-Hop production, and it harkens back to the days of The Streets or Kate Nash that feel increasingly rare to come by in this day and age. A hard-hitting listen, which B-Wey’s personality makes all the more attention-grabbing.

Pictured: B-Wey (Ben Weyman) (2021) (Photo via slavestotherhythm.monkjackpublishing.com)

On that note – we’ve reached the end of the page. Thank you very much for joining me for another day, and, as I have already mentioned, I will be going on a short break starting from Thursday because I’m busy attending my sister’s big day! I shall leave you tomorrow with a track, taken from our ‘Way Back Wednesdays’ feature, from a particularly special act. This androgynous Synth-Pop and New Wave band were formed in 1983 and they found their fame after supporting Depeche Mode’s tours in 1985 and 1986. The group have been described by The Houston Press as “forward thinking” for their lyrics that used to deal with gender politics and sexual orientation.

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Today’s Track: Emawk – “Highroad”

May 4, 2021 — Leave a comment

Hit the Road, Jack, and never come back, no more, no more, no more. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “HIGHROAD” (Single) (Released on January 27th, 2021) (via Self-Released)

Good Morning to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke, and, you know the drill by now – I need to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, since it’s always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! Born in Boston, raised in Kenya, and based in New York City, singer-songwriter and self-producer Kwame Nkrumah – who uses the moniker of Emawk – is a young graduate of the Berklee College Of Music who has spent the last handful of years writing and recording his music entirely on his own, despite an odd collaboration with actor Hart Denton from the hit US TV series ‘Riverdale’. Nevertheless, Emawk’s Hip-Hop music is gathering a healthy following on the internet, with his recent output gaining support from third-party promoters like Beats1 and Majestic Casual. Accompanied by a B-side, ‘Beads’, his first new track of 2021 was ‘HIGHROAD’, which kicked off an ambitious new audio-visual project that sees Emawk documenting a testimony of his personal life through steady new single releases during the year, which recently picked up with slick R&B, woozy offering ‘ACOUSCOUS’. Let’s hit the ‘HIGHROAD’ for a sample of his work below.

‘HIGHROAD’ marked the new point for Emawk to take a more candid approach to his craft, as he told Equate Magazine in a recent interview, “While I’m proud of the lyrics and the time I took to write them, it was one of the few times where writing was mostly about the vibe”, adding on ‘HIGHROAD’ and ‘Beads’ by penning, “I made the instrumental for Beads and just vibed with it. Hopefully, that comes across and hopefully whoever listens can vibe with it as well”, after joking about how cheesy the role of ‘Vibe’ played into the two tracks. As for ‘HIGHROAD’ specifically, Emawk prides himself in a cut where his self-expression feels at his most unsullied, and his natural instincts gave him the platform to transition from 2020 to 2021 with a refreshing attitude and a new start. A soulful and Gospel-backed mood reflects this, as slick and polished bass grooves interweave with a sun-soaked vocal outpouring of reflections on growing maturity. The first verse leans heavily into self-respect, with lyrics like “You talk a good game, tried to cross up my brain” and “I let you think that you won, I flip the script like I want/Then stepped over the spot where you tripped” and the second verse is a personal reflection on changes that could be made for the better, as lyrics like “I’ve got a lot of old fears that I’ve got to unlearn and I’m unlearning” as he picks himself up to encourage becoming more open to others. The final bridge of “Shout out to anyone who ever caught me on a bad day, And decided that’s all that I could ever be” hits hard, and he gets the last laugh on “I ain’t got the time to throw stones” as the self-confrontational messages draw to an end. Raw and heated are the words I’d use to describe the tone of the track. As for the instrumentation, we weave through sweet and steady flowing rhythms of Dub instrumentals, low-key synth tones that feel warm, and a honeyed production that sees the radiant, lo-fi acoustic guitar pluckings add a finishing touch during the home stretch. While there’s nothing here that truly blows me away, as I think it could have done without the briefly distracting auto-tune near the end, it’s fresh and it sounds good, with varied instrumentation and an intimate feel which lets Emawk off the leash to show personality among the polish.

Pictured: Emawk in the music video for “18” (2019) (Photo Credit: TMRWMagazine.com)

Well, it’s time for me to hit the ‘HIGHROAD’ and get on with my work deadlines for the rest of the day now. A break from the new music spotlight is on the docket for tomorrow, just like usual, however, as we delve into a retro hit from one of my own Dad’s favourite 90’s groups, and beyond, in roughly 24 hours time. The Liverpool indie rock trio are still gaining decent radio airplay, however, particularly for a national football anthem that saw them work with comedian David Baddiel and Absolute Radio presenter Frank Skinner for a sporting sensation that made it to the top of the charts in 1996 and 1998, and then again, in 2018. 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: Nia Archives – “Headz Gone West”

May 3, 2021 — Leave a comment

Headz, Shoulderz, Kneez and Toez…Kneez and Toez. On that note, it’s new post time!

Pictured: Nia Archives in a promotional shoot for The Pit, London (2020) (Article by Ben Tibbits)

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 always, since it’s my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of music every day! ‘Headz Gone West’ is a short-and-sweet single that’s been sneaking it’s way onto my radio show and streaming library over the last week or so. It comes from the London-based (by way of Manchester and Leeds) singer-songwriter and visual graphic designer Nia Archives, who mixes Erykah Badu-inspired Neo-Soul and light Hip-Hop with more DIY-spirited Jungle and Drum & Bass production. There’s also some love for House music and UK Garage included in the pot too. Archives has just released her debut EP, of the same name as her latest track, via HIJINXX – which is also the name of the youth street art project that she also manages. Nia has remixed Lauren Faith, and collaborated with Zeitgeist, and so the stock is rising for this young lady, who claims to work primarily from her bedroom using old and second-hand kit to express herself through her material. Tune in below.

“Making the EP was super fun!”, Nia told Clash Music, elaborating, “I had a little DIY set up in my room, and I would sit up all night making loads of quick beats for fun… some of them I would end up proper vibesing to and kept working on them”, finishing up with, “Overall, the project is massively inspired by my love for breakbeats, jungle and D’n’B – and ‘Headz Gone West’ is the second track I wrote for it straight after ‘Sober Feels'” as she guided us along the process of putting together her first solo release. Her Jamaican heritage seems to have played a role in the intoxicating blend of lo-fi synths and Dub underlayers, paired up with lyrics that talk about independence, difficult relationships with familial figures and alcoholic addiction. The chorus of “My head has gone west, ain’t never getting nowhere, I watch the sunrise and then the sunset, I wanna get high so I can forget” balances a storm within the beauty, while a slightly more subdued verse gives space for lines like “I can’t sleep at night, I have so much on my mind” to address the elephant in the room willingly, despite the tone of the beats feeling danceable, and the subject matter of the lyrics feeling relatable. What I like about what Nia does here is the blending of traits from different genres that feel soulful, yet unwind in an experimental way that holds a personal quality for her. The explorations of late 80’s liquid rave music culture and German Soundsystem Reggae all fit under a similar umbrella and so the pieces all fit together neatly. The cohesion is really nice, yet there’s a feeling of “Summer anthem” to the mildly euphoric style. The lyrics have a darker mood if you read between the lines of the skittering, IDM-like breakbeats, however, and there’s simply a decent deal of interesting fusions to maintain your attention here. There’s a little over-reliance on repetition, but the duration is cut short and sweet, as to not overstay it’s welcome too much. Overall, it’s early days for her, but these results seem solid and very promising.

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Headz Gone West” (EP) (Released on April 29, 2021) (via HIJINXX)

That’s all for today – but don’t forget to bring your Headz back over to the blog tomorrow for another review of recent, new music, this time coming from the Hip-Hop side of the pond, as we bring our focus to another emerging artist who was born in Boston, raised in Kenya, and now lives in New York City after graduating from the Berklee College of Music. 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/

WWE WrestleMania 37 Weekend Special: 21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin – “Ric Flair Drip”

April 11, 2021 — Leave a comment

To be The Man – You’ve got to beat The Man. On that note, it’s time for a special post!

Pictured: Alternate Cover Art for “Without Warning” (Released on October 31, 2017) (via Epic Records)

Well… You could say that last night’s events certainly put a whole new meaning into WWE’s ‘Thunderdome’. Once it got going half an hour later than scheduled though, I had a great night. A fantastic main event, a solid opener that picked up the pace and got things moving again pretty well, the sight of seeing my guy Cesaro getting the big win that I thought and hoped he would in an instant classic, two matches that turned out to be better than expected, and only one of the matches fell outright flat, and so that’s pretty good going, all things considered for a pro wrestling show just shy of four hours long. Sunday’s two-day spread of specifically themed posts continues with a look back at a more contemporary track than my offering yesterday with a track themed around the 16-time world champion Ric Flair. Released in 2018 on their ‘Without Warning’ Halloween mixtape, 21 Savage, Offset & Metro Boomin, a trio of US rappers and producers known from other projects like Migos, popularized the term of ‘Drip’ through their Nature Boy tribute. It’s a slang expression for excessive fashion and pompous wealth, and the track has, since it’s release, become the second most-streamed song on the RapCaviar Spotify playlist. It’s also the highest charting single for Offset and Metro Boomin, as leading artists, on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking to the heights of #13 after the music video went viral. Let’s check it out below.

It was simply emotional to see fans in an actual venue for the first time in over a year, even if the first sights of ponchos and heavy rainfall was one that you simply couldn’t make up. Anyways, part two resumes tonight with the promising line-up of Roman Reigns vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan in a Triple Threat main event for the WWE Universal Championship, Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship and Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn with a celebrity appearance from the YouTube megastar Logan Paul, to name just a few. Let’s hope the weather holds up. Back to the task at hand, ‘Ric Flair Drip’ is a track which I didn’t recognize by it’s name, but once I hit play on the music video, I instantly knew it. This track was played very heavily on the soundtrack of WWE 2K19, along with a small selection of other tracks. With it’s very recognizably programmed Trap Beats and it’s tense tapestry of moods, it didn’t take me long to gather my thoughts. Lyrically, it plays out as you’d expect, with slang-filled sequences like “Fifty-Seven ninety, Split the coupe on my wrist” and “My car five-hundred and I don’t put no miles on it” that are delivered with a boastful and flauntering attitude, as they glide aggressively over the top of a melodramatic backing beat. There’s some heated String sections and copious amounts of heavy Bassline that dovetail the Grime-inflicted production. There isn’t much of a chorus here, but lyrics that declare 21 Savage as the “Top of the food chain” and flaunter his commercial success as a music artist like “Multi-million dollar, I’m a fool with the hits” that rhyme with preceding lines paint a very clear picture of what they’re getting at here. Icy Keyboard melodies and low-pitched Drum beats make up the darker variations of mood, we get a fun cameo from Ric Flair in the track and the video itself, and that’s your lot. Some of these hooks are decently catchy, and the mood works well even if it doesn’t progress very much. Overall, it feels all a little stereotypical for my liking, with a basic lyrical theme that we’ve seen a hundred times before about money and power, and it doesn’t seem to be pushing many boundaries. The heavy auto-tune effects get rather tiresome and the classic gangster rap picture isn’t doing anything very interesting for them. While it’s not great, it’s pedestrian and it has a brief couple of fun moments. Overall, though, I don’t think it’s really the case of it not really being my thing, I think it’s just pretty bad on the whole. While not inherently offensive, it simply lacks much variation, the songwriting is average, and it gets on my nerves a little bit. So, that leaves me with just one thing left to say – WOOOOOOOOO!

Pictured: Ric Flair with the WWF Championship in Albany, New York (1992) (Photo via WWE.com)

That concludes our WrestleMania-centric weekend of blog posts here on the blog, and Scuzz Sundays will make it’s huge return from a two-week hiatus at this point in seven days time. But first, if you missed out on my post yesterday, it’s time to hit the ‘Big Time’ with Peter Gabriel here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2021/04/10/wwe-wrestlemania-37-weekend-special-peter-gabriel-big-time/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “So” (Album/LP) (Released on 19th May, 1986) (via Charisma Records)

That’s all for today – I’ll be back to business as usual tomorrow once I’ve recovered from what’s shaping up to be another late one! That’s what you get for being a WWE fan in the UK though, right? You won’t want to miss out though as we sample the new tune from the final member of the Boygenius trio – which also included the recent breakout stars Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker. 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: Genesis Owusu – “Whip Cracker”

March 27, 2021 — 1 Comment

Title not to be confused with the Phil Collins-starring vehicle, Genesis. New post time!

Pictured: Cover Art for “Smiling With No Teeth” (LP) (Released on March 5th, 2021) (via OURNESS)

Good Afternoon to you! My name is Jacob Braybrooke and – you know the drill by now – it’s time for me to get typing up for your 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! The soundtrack to your Saturday comes from the rising star Aussie hip-hop producer Genesis Owusu, who had his origins set in his birth-place of Koforidua in Ghana, but he was relocated to the Australian capital city of Canberra when he was only two years old. I first came to discover Genesis (real name: Kofi Owusu-Ansah) around seven months ago, when his single ‘Don’t Need You’ was featured on The Current’s Song Of The Day podcast. I liked it back then, and I play-listed the track for airplay on my student radio station. All of that time later – his debut studio album, titled ‘Smiling With No Teeth’ was released on March 5th via his own label, OURNESS, and it really has come out of nowhere to become probably the strongest release of the new year so far. Filled with rich, carefully manufactured concepts around mental state and systematic racism, along with deep and satisfying grooves, and the surprise factor, he really has become one of the most exciting new talents for me, and one that I’d highly suggest that you get your finger on the pulse with. Genesis is also the brother of the two-time ARIA Awards-nominated rapper Citizen Kay. I think that my favourite track from the record is probably ‘Whip Cracker’. ‘Easy’, ‘Gold Chains’ and ‘The Other Black Dog’ are highlights too, but this track makes for a natural change of pace between the midway point of the record. On the track, he hits out at the stereotypes of his race and upper-class bigotry, which had been building throughout the previous tracks. Back in June, he released a black-and-white music video for the track, which he says was filmed in almost a single take, and directed by Bart Celestino. Let’s check it out below.

I did not previously know that ‘Whip Cracker’ had already been shared during the heights of the Black Lives Matter cultural movement over the previous summer, but it certainly makes a great deal of sense, with the bold subject matter of the track feeling ripe for those anxiety-inducing moments. Shared on an Instagram post at the time, Genesis wrote: “I’m not gonna sit here and try to convince anyone why me and my family’s lives matter. I’m not gonna be congratulating white people for not being racist, and I’m not gonna beg and plead for the justice of my people anymore. I’m taking that shit.” in his adrenaline-fueled post. He also shared links to Ways To Act, a resource that listed organisations which work with indigenous Australians. Back to the task at hand – ‘Whip Cracker’ is pretty much just that. Bolstered by references to Malcolm X and slavery issues, he delivers lines like “Spit up on my grave, Hope my thoughts behave, we so depraved” and “Hope your soul is safe, We gon’ hold your fate” with a great viscerality and an urgent flow. Rather than feeling like a series of buzz words of his naming and shaming, however, this more vaguely feels like a celebration of outspoken rights attitudes, although Genesis never shies away from the acknowledgement that more work needs to be done. For instance, the main bulk of the track sees an electronically-based synth opening slowly develop into a lovely Post-Punk backing for Genesis to hit his aggressive bars from. The guitar licks and the angular bass riffs just mould themselves into a slightly psychedelic Aussie Synth-Pop conclusion that makes the genre feel wonderfully tricky to really define. It also feels like there is a full backing band sound behind this – instead of just a lyricist and a producer that most modern hip-hop productions are often modelled after. The themes are edgy and rich, but the instrumentation is deeply satisfying too – with a fresh feel, as the metaphors featured in the prior tracks on the new LP are ditched in favour of a short-fuse, outspoken personality. It pays off hugely for Genesis, with the important messages of the track and the exciting production tactics making it feel like a viable, strong argument for the Best Single Of The Year, and I’m sure the record will be making an appearance on my Top Ten lists. I mean, it only takes you some listening to the album to find out that he is clearly not just your average rap artist. It’s fantastic.

Pictured: Genesis Owusu in a general promo press shoot (2020) (Photo Credit: Bec Parson/OURNESS)

As previously mentioned, I did cover ‘Don’t Need You’ on the blog back a long while ago, and I wasn’t as familiar with Genesis as I am now, but if you’d like to see how far that we’ve both come since that point, you can still peruse my little musing on that track here: https://onetrackatatime.home.blog/2020/11/06/todays-track-genesis-owusu-dont-need-you/

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Don’t Need You” (Single) (Released on May 15, 2020) (via Ourness Pty Ltd.)

That’s all I’ve got time for – and probably enough rave reviewing for your eyes to read. They won’t get much of a short rest, however, because duty calls tomorrow for another new weekly entry in our Scuzz Sundays series – where we revisit an Emo-era Pop-Punk classic from the late 90’s up to the mid-00’s. Join me then – for an in-depth look back at a single coming from a Rap-Rock group famously native to South Gate, Carolina who became the first Latin-American Hip-Hop group to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame 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: Clipping – “Say The Name”

March 4, 2021 — Leave a comment

…and whatever you do – Don’t fall asleep! It is time for a frightening new blog post…

Pictured: Cover Art for “Visions Of Bodies Being Burned” (Released on Oct 23rd, 2020) (via Sub-Pop)

Good Afternoon to you – my name is Jacob Braybrooke, and it’s time for me to get typing up for your daily track on the blog, since it is always my day-to-day pleasure to write up about a different piece of new music every day! In retrospect, I think this track may have been a more suitable fit for Halloween. Never mind, though, because it’s a fairly grey, cloudy and grizzly day outside here in Cambridgeshire and so this might prove to be some good “Mood Music” for you, if you’re finding yourself to be in a similar frame of mind today. Clipping are an Experimental Hip-Hop group consisting of rapper Daveed Diggs, and the two producers Jonathan Snipes & William Hutson. They relish in the samples of scary Slasher flicks of old, with a ‘Rapcore’ sound that evokes a cinematic scope and a dark variation of tones that wouldn’t feel out of place in a vintage Wes Craven or John Carpenter Horror soundtrack. It goes without saying the results are pretty disturbing and intriguing, with the band describing their latest album, “Visions Of Bodies Being Burned” as a movie-like sequel to their 2019 release, “There Existed In An Addiction To Blood”. Released back in October, their latest album lifted it’s name from a Scarface line from the Geto Boys’ ancient 1991 single, “Mind Playing Tricks On Me”, and “Say The Name” turns this quote into a hook, and builds a dark fantasy influenced by ‘Candyman’ to it. Let’s get spooked with the results below.

The recent album, “Visions Of Being Burned” was acclaimed by critics when it was released on October 23rd via the ever-reliable Sub-Pop records label – with the record also featuring collaborations with musicians like rap duo Cam & China, the EVP research artist Michael Esposito, the Improvisational Jazz creator Jeff Parker, and a handful of others. As a matter of fact, the closing track “Secret Piece”, is a Spoken Word performance of a text-based “event score” that Yoko Ono wrote back 1953. It really is music for fine artists, and created by serious performers where commercial accessibility seemingly isn’t near the top of their list of priorities. I like that it sounds different to many of the other Alt Hip-Hop groups that have come before though, with stereotypical Jazz-Funk sensibilities being replaced by throbbing basslines and strobing synth melodies. This alternative production is clear on “Say The Name”, where visions of “The hook gon’ be the coldest pimp slap/Coat rack for man skin/Let it air dry” and “Swiss cheesed a brother, already half dead/Brain leaking out a hole in his forehead” are conjured up. These striking and graphic images are evoked by the Industrial clatter of the hip-hop samples, with rustic drum patterns that are integrated with a strong viscerality. The chorus is relatively simplistic in comparison, with “Candlesticks in the dark, Visions of bodies being burned” being repeated above the top of a Synth-heavy outro, matched by the gory sentiments and slightly demonic aesthetics being used throughout the verses. Vibrant, clattering drum machine loops are woven into the fabric of the mature, adult-oriented content with a sense of mystery and a lack of warmth. The concept works well because it feels very unique, although there’s fairly little substance in here for me. Overall, to me, it’s a strong success, however, and although I’d probably need to be in a certain frame of mind to enjoy it fully, it has a decent sense of originality and a well-inspired backstory for me to sink my teeth into, with the 80’s-ish gothic Horror aesthetics being pulled off nicely.

Pictured: Daveed Diggs (Rapper/Lyricist), William Hutson (Producer/Keyboard/Samples) and Jonathan Snipes (Multi-Instrumentalist/Producer) (in 2016) (Photo by Katie Falkenberg/The Los Angeles Times)

With that – You can stop hiding your face under the cushion of your sofa now. Can you believe that it’s nearly already time for the weekend again? Join me for an in-depth look at one of this week’s new album releases tomorrow, as we sample one of the new cuts taken from the ninth main addition to the discography of a prolific female singer-songwriter. This Liverpool-based artist owns the record label Bird, and you may know her as a former member of the Brit-Pop girl group Kill Laura, and previously a member of the Folktronica project Misty Dixon too. 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/